Dark F&B ceiling?

[trainedopossum]

In theory I love the idea of a dark ceiling but I know someone who painted their whole flat in a sort of velvety bronze and while it’s gorgeous, it’s very disorienting, like stepping into a black hole 🕳️

I want to try it in my bedroom but I really really don’t want to repaint if I hate it 😀

Right now there’s a pale, feminine wallpaper that I really don’t love, so I thought a dark ceiling would make it feel a bit moody without the wraparound effect which could make it overwhelming. There’s one brown wall (F&B London Clay) with a pottery collection mounted on it. I’d do all the trim, door etc in either that or Tanner's Brown.

How high is your ceiling? I wouldn't do this unless it's very high or it will feel like a low dingy cave.

I think you'll regret doing a dark ceiling. Why not choose a colour in the wallpaper and find a somewhat deeper colour to coordinate. That might tone down the wallpaper without overwhelming the room. Do you have a photo of the wallpaper?

We colour-drenched our bedroom in F&B De Nimes, so everything - walls, ceiling and joinery are that one colour. It looks amazing as we have curtains (two windows), rug, bedding, lamps and art etc in brighter colours which really stand out against the darker backdrop.

I was taught that colour-drenching makes spaces appear larger.

Our home is a Georgian cottage with fairly low (2.25m) ceilings, but having the ceiling dark feels cosy, not cave-like imo.

However, Tanner's Brown is very dark.

It’s this in the lightest colourway: https://www.osborneandlittle.com/farfalla-ncw4010-ncw4010.html
Ceilings are 2.5m high.

It sounds lovely.
The thing about drenching with deep colours in large vs small rooms is that it’s a bit of voodoo and it makes everything look a bit blurry so yes, it’s a coziness thing or something, I can’t wrap my head around it.

Everybody's taste is different, but I would try a deeper version of the background colour of the wallpaper.

This looks very tailored and pretty but I’m hoping for a more dramatic effect.
If I liked the paper more it’d be perfect way to show it off.

Dark ceiling will not work with lighter walls imo you will feel like you are in a car crusher

I would paint the ceiling the light ice blue seen in one butterfly, in matte. It would appear like an open crisp sky above.

Otherwise, I would paint it the same colour as the wallpaper and in a matte.

Colour drenching is a trend that will look dated very soon, particularly all dark.

op, change the wallpaper if you don’t like it rather than risking a dark ceiling.

I disagree - it's been a thing in France for hundreds of years, so imo it's a classic design style.

We first colour-drenched in a previous house in 2017 (before it became a trend in the UK) having been inspired by an original colour scheme in a national trust property. We don't follow current trends anyway, so couldn't care less if some people think it looks dated.

I do agree that as the OP dislikes the wallpaper, the best thing would be to lose it.

Too late to edit, but I would only colour drench in a period house as imo it better suits the proportions of character properties. We've done it in 400 and 200 year old houses where it works perfectly.

The late, great Gretchen Andersen of The Lacquer Chest fame was an early adopter of this decorating style as she believed what she referred to as 'the French method' (painting the joinery in the same colour as the walls) made rooms appear larger (although I'm not sure if she continued the same colour onto the ceiling).

We’ve had a variety of very dark and medium coloured ceilings over the years and they have all looked really good when they’ve have complimentary colours on the walls.

Oo interesting thread. We just did two bedrooms- walls and ceilings Moles Breath F and B which is a dark grey.
To be fair the larger bedroom definitely seems darker but to me in a cosy way. The smaller room has a wall of bookshelves in a much lighter grey and both rooms have off white blinds.
I love both rooms. Our property is about 20 years old decent ceiling height but not Georgian elegance by any means.

I agree it works beautifully with space
rooms with high ceilings but not in small houses.Especially the very dark colours. In terms of dating, it depends when or if you plan to sell-it’s not a style for everyone, and many will see it as dated over here in UK any time soon.

Thanks for the helpful replies. I should probably repaper but I haven’t got the bandwidth or budget for that kind of project, for now I just want a quick update I can do myself.

Even if I had the ability to start from scratch I have no idea what I’d do next, I feel like there’s room to experiment with small tweaks for the time being. I can’t wait to get rid of the white trim and ceiling and see where we are then.

If it helps, it’s a 3 bed mid-terrace Edwardian, pretty bog standard size rooms. No soaring ceilings sadly.