While the ceilings you see in most homes are white, that’s not the only paint color or specialty finish you can use. The following will give you some guidelines to follow when considering what is best.

With eight-foot ceilings, your goal should be to add the illusion of height to the room, which is best achieved with a light, neutral ceiling. Therefore, if all your ceilings are 8 feet in height keep them a very light color because doing otherwise will draw attention to your ceiling height.

Ceilings higher than 8 feet allow you the ability to create a unique ceiling treatment that can provide extraordinary results in certain rooms. A small powder room is a good example of a room that would benefit from adding interest on the ceiling. In one small powder room that was tucked under stairs, I used a specialty paint treatment on the ceiling to disguise the multi-angled nature of the room.

If you have visited designer show houses that have a non-white ceiling treatment, keep in mind that here the ceilings have been decorated for “show” appeal and may not actually be the best choice for your room. If you are not sure whether you will like the overall effect or whether it will fit in with your interiors, it is best to avoid doing this.

However, if you have ceilings that are 10 feet or taller, they may benefit from a specialty finish on the ceilings in some rooms. The foyer would be a good room for this because it is the first view of the interior that you see as you enter the house and it should make an inviting impression. Dining rooms are also good places for this because you want to create an intimate and stimulating feeling about being in the room. A master bedroom with a vaulted or tray ceiling would benefit because you will get to enjoy it while in bed.

Importantly remember to use non-white or specialty ceiling paint in select rooms and not through-out the house. Using them through-out the house can overwhelm you visually. But if you are trying to achieve an interior that feels the same as being in a castle or European older home, then you might want to avoid having any stark white ceilings. The good thing about paint is that it is so easily changed at a more reasonable cost than changing the interior furnishings to give you the overall look you can live with.

Teal Michel ASID, is a licensed full-service interior design firm specializing in residential interior design and renovation-remodeling design throughout the Carolinas. Teal has won awards from ASID for interior spaces and furniture design and from the Home Builder’s Association of Charlotte Excellence in Remodeling for remodel design and interior renovation. She has participated in HGTV’s “Designer’s Challenge” and her work has been featured in several books. www.tealmichelasid.com.