Obviously, when painting, the ideal is for all surfaces to be to as dark as one can stand. But if one is planning to do two tones to keep a family room from seeming like a nice place for spelunking, where should the darkest color be used?

I will have a 100" screen hanging about 7" in front of an end wall. In a two tone set up, would I be better off making the wall behind the screen and the ceiling the darker color, or better off making all the walls darker and the ceiling lighter? I don't think the wife will permit any other configuration?

Thanks.

If you have to compromise, I'd have the screen wall and ceiling darker.

Agreed. At a minimum, do the front wall. Sometimes you can't do the ceiling as it makes things look lower than they really are. If you can, that's great.

Bryan

Thanks for the input. Any other opinions?

Agreed. At a minimum, do the front wall. Sometimes you can't do the ceiling as it makes things look lower than they really are. If you can, that's great.

Bryan
I don't know about that-- our ceiling is pretty dark, and it makes the ceiling seem to disappear.

Darker colors make walls seem closer to you, so if you have a long room, you typically will paint the wall at the end of a long area a darker color.

If it's not a dedicated home theater it could even be an off-white, but that theatre/cave-like feeling comes with dark colors.

I've seen some shades of grey used on cielings with dark walls that looks nice (flat or low-sheen finish on both). I'd always go lighter on the ceiling unless you're trying to hide exposed framing or ductwork.

My question is whether the ceiling being dark is important in terms of light control, putting aside considerations of what feels better for the moment.

My question is whether the ceiling being dark is important in terms of light control, putting aside considerations of what feels better for the moment.

Then the simple answer is 'yes'.

-drin

A slightly more complicated answer is "maybe".

I think it depends on the height of the ceiling. In my dedicated room the ceiling is 10 feet, and the projector is ceiling mounted. The lighter color does not seem to be much of a problem in this setup. If the ceiling were 8 feet, I would need to darken it up a bit.

In another example, when I use a projector in the living room, the ceiling is not an issue at all since it is way up there at 24 feet.

My room is 18' by 13' with an 8' ceiling. It sounds like I need to lobby for using a darker shade behind the screen and on the ceiling, and a more family roomish color on the side walls.

I've heard people say earth tones are the way to go, so we're thinking of medium brown for the side walls and a dark, leather colored brown for the rest.

My room is 13x20 with 7 foot ceilings.

Black ceilings? In my house they would have a WAF of -10.

I used "milano blue" and so far am extremely pleased.
Tom
China Clipper