Painting Kitchen Ceilings
Eric Perry, 2012, Scripps Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Completely overhauling a kitchen can be costly, but painting a kitchen ceiling is one way to reinvent your space without breaking the bank.
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Paint is one affordable way to fix up your kitchen, and it can work wonders on your walls, cabinets, floors and even your ceilings. In fact, many interior designers believe that painted ceilings give kitchens a much-needed burst of color.
A painted kitchen ceiling can also help draw the eye upward or bring high ceilings down. It's a nice way to completely envelop a room in color if you choose to paint your ceiling and walls the same color. But choosing the right color for a kitchen ceiling can be tricky.
Before choosing a color, look at your space and find a shade that works best with the other accents in the room. It's also important to consider how much light your kitchen gets. Light blue is a good go-to color for kitchen ceilings. Reminiscent of the sky, it feels light and airy.
If you have a really large kitchen and very high ceilings, you can go with a more bold hue such as dark gray or navy blue. To avoid highlighting any imperfections on your ceiling, it's best to use a flat finish, but some interior designers like to use a glossy finish for new homes to reflect light and add some dimension to the space.
Painting a ceiling can be a pain in the neck (literally!), but it's a relatively easy project that you can do yourself. Before you begin painting, make sure to cover your floor, countertops, cabinets, appliances and any other surfaces with a drop cloth. Using painter's tape, cover the area where the wall meets the ceiling, unless you're using the same color on both surfaces.
Before you begin painting, make sure to buy a paint roller with an extension handle so you can easily reach the ceiling without standing on a ladder. If your ceiling is textured, you'll want to use a thick-nap roller to ensure you can completely cover the irregularities in the surface.
Once you're ready to start painting, you'll want to prime the ceiling. Once the primer is dry, paint a 2- to 3-inch cut-in line on the ceiling using a paintbrush. Make sure to start painting the ceiling with your roller while the cut-in line is still wet to avoid having a visible line. Then, make a zigzag pattern with your roller and go over that with straight strokes to even out the paint. Let the first coat dry and then start the same process over again for a second coat.
