The sky is the limit, or in this case the ceiling is. I have been experiencing a rash of problems from painters lately who are frustrated when it comes to painting ceilings. There are some basic principles that apply here that can help painters and their clients to have some realistic expectations.

The ceiling in any room is one of the most difficult surfaces to paint well. The problems most associated with badly painted ceilings are poor substrate quality (badly hung and taped drywall, or badly repaired plaster), and poorly applied paints that may not be suitable for ceilings. Ceilings are uniquely difficult as a result of the manner in which light reflects across them. Imperfections you might not even see on a vertical wall are highlighted on a ceiling by this phenomenon. It is therefore extremely important that certain measures be taken up front to avoid an unsatisfactory result.

Just because you love the look of eggshell paint on the walls doesn’t mean you are going to be able to have it on a ceiling (here me out designers one and all). The best finish for a ceiling is as dead a flat as you can get. C2 has a LoVo product Non-Reflective flat, that works well on ceilings when applied properly. Almost all manufacturers sell some type of ceiling flat. Bathrooms and kitchens generally do require ceilings painted in some sort of a sheen for moisture protection and stain removal. These rooms by and large tend to be smaller in scope and represent less of a challenge than large living rooms, dining rooms, and other common areas.

“I put four coats on and I can still see imperfections and roller marks, what’s wrong with this paint?” I can’t tell you how many times I hear this from painters. The truth is that once things start to go wrong they only get worse the more coats of paint you apply. The objective when painting a ceiling is to do it as fast as possible so that the paint remains wet long enough to even out and not show roller tracks. Surprisingly few painters use larger rollers for ceilings than they would for a normal sized wall. 18″ roller covers are the answer when doing large ceilings. They will allow you to get the job done exponentially faster than with a conventional 9″ cover.

Another common misunderstanding is which direction to roll the paint. You ALWAYS roll the paint in the direction perpendicular to the main source of light entering the room. If you have two sources of light pick the one that you see as you enter the room and paint perpendicular to it. This will allow the light rays to be scattered and diffused across the widths of the roller pattern rather than being telegraphed down the lengths of them.

One technique that works well on very large ceilings is to spray the paint on with an airless sprayer followed by a very light back rolling to even out the paint. The slight roller texture also aids in scattering the light rays. It is essential if you are going to spray the ceiling that you back roll as well. If you do not back roll you are likely to get uneven paint build up resulting in unwanted sheen even when using the flattest of paints.

So what can you do if you have gone too far and the ceiling now looks horrible. I have found the best solution to be priming it again with an OIL-BASED primer (latex doesn’t work), and then applying one finish coat of a suitably flat ceiling paint. The oil-based primer seals all the mistake coats completely and allows you to begin anew. It also prevents the finish coat from being absorbed by the substrate.  Remember as I have said before there is no such thing as touch up, and on ceilings this is doubly true. Keep that electrician away from the newly painted ceiling unless he has white gloves on, I am not kidding!

So a little pre-planning by designers and painters can make everybody’s life (including mine) a little easier. With that said, don’t be afraid to put a little color up there while you’re at it. My favorite is PPC-BL7 Agua Verte. Use it full strength with rich colors or cut it by half for lighter value walls. It will make your ceilings feel like the sky above.

Gray seems to be very popular right now with all segments of the design industry. Interestingly enough when I first created some of my warm neutral grays some ten years ago, nobody was buying them. Now the same exact colors are flying out of the store like mad. So classic colors still work,  they just need to wait until they’re in season so to speak. With that in mind I created a new gray, PPC-G18 Greyhound. It represents a color space in the middle of PPC-G13 Mink, PPC-G5 Suede, and PPC-G14 Dakon Gray. All of these colors have been extremely successful, yet I felt there was a need for one more in this family. It represents the color of the blue greyhound breed which is actually quite brown. This ultra sleek gray/brown is very complex using 12 different pigments. The trick with any gray is too never pick one that is icy in nature. All of my full spectrum grays have warmer undertones so they never get too blue. Despite the gray days of winter, these colors are in full bloom, so indulge.

We never seem to lose our taste for red. Regardless of the current trends we always see designers and customers alike striving for that “perfect” dining room red, or a lively red to add an accent to a child’s playroom. Unfortunately red’s can also bring with them a difficulty in application that can take some of the passion out of this color choice. I want to cover some of the basics here and give you some idea what to expect if you haven’t already had your own red disaster.

Not all paint pigments are created equal, so not surprisingly some of them have better opacity than others. On a molecular level these pigments have different shapes, sizes, and weights contributing to the difference in how they absorb/reflect light waves. The inorganic pigments such as oxide yellow and red oxide have much greater opacity than the organic bright reds and yellows. In fact it can be demonstrated that adding a bright yellow pigment to a titanium white paint base will actually decrease the hiding power (opacity) of that paint versus leaving it without added pigments. So what does this have to do with red?

Most deep red colors are formulated using an abundance of bright organic red pigments, thus creating colors that do not hide well. After about your eighth coat of paint you may be wondering what it was about this color that you liked in the first place! This is one of those places were aesthetics and pragmatism find common ground. By using full spectrum reds such as PPC-R10 Ryan’s Red, PPC-R4 Real Red, or PPC-R7 Candy Apple Red, you get colors that have other better hiding pigments mixed in as well to help alleviate this chronic problem. These are reds that are proven winners regardless of trends.

Think about using PPC-R4 Real Red for those situations where you want a really lively affect. PPC-R7 Candy Apple Red is the richest ultra sexy red for dining rooms or even bedrooms if you dare. PPC-R10 Ryan’s Red is in between the two and has ultimate utility anywhere you desire a blast of red.

Most paint companies have formulated deep tinted primers for use underneath difficult reds. Always take the time to follow their recommendations. These primers can save you money and time, and will ultimately give you the final color that you are after.

It seems our hearts will always yearn for a little red now and then. Just as in romance, remember to choose wisely. Happy Valentine’s Day.