Decorating, Painting and Custom Closets

I am in the middle of several projects - painting the dining room with some sort of design/finish on the groin vault ceiling, furnishing said dining room (with an Amish trestle table, gray wicker chairs, a slip-covered linen bench, my existing china cabinet, something new on either side of the cabinet for storage, a new chandelier!), painting the study, master bedroom and master bathroom. Hoping to come back and post before/after photos.

But my initial question is, what do you think about painted ceilings? I love the idea of a haint blue (southern tradition) on the ceiling and plan to do that in my master. It has taken a long time to find the right blue (Martha Stewart Rainwater), and even then, I think I have to lighten it a bit for the master ceiling. I will use it full-color on the dining room walls. The dining room ceiling is more involved. I'm nervous about the design (as I'm an artist myself); who knows what these folks are going to show me when they return? Has anyone done a faux finish or stencil design that they can post pictures of? Pinterest has been a wonderful resource.

One more item, we have a storage issue upstairs and our master closet is very under-utilized (11 ft ceilings in there??). I have a guy coming by to discuss building in custom storage to the ceiling, with flip-up doors on the top bins so you can store luggage, Christmas decor, etc.). I realize their standard package is MDF and Melamine (ugh), but they do offer solid wood (and they cut it at their shop right around the corner). Anyone have custom closet success?

Painted ceilings give a nice, custom look but are a real pain to do. You have to use a flat paint and be very-very even in coverage. I have never been successful in doing one in a single coat with a roller, either. Spray gun is the way to go on ceilings, but you can do it with a roller if you are careful with the overlaps.

While I no longer paint, after many houses and many ceilings I have learned to keep a wet edge and do two coats, preferably in different directions. Use the quality paint and rollers, making sure you prep the rollers by rolling them on masking tape to remove loose fibers. Mix all the paint in a single container (5 gl. pail works well) and strain the paint through cheese cloth. The goal is to keep foreign matter out. Good luck.

I LOVE the idea of a painted ceiling. If you aren't bold enough to put a really bright color on the walls, painting the ceiling in a bright, bold color can be fun. My dining room is painted a deep red and has a light blue ceiling. I'm a fan... Definitely try it out! And changing the ceiling can be a fun, easy fix to spruce up a room.