Ceilings are the one surface in an NYC apartment that every person in the room sees simultaneously — and the most consistently neglected surface in most apartment renovations. Here's how to think about ceilings correctly.
The Default: White Ceiling
The vast majority of NYC apartment ceilings are painted flat white — and this is the right call in most cases. Flat or matte white on the ceiling creates the maximum apparent ceiling height by maximizing light reflection and minimizing the visual weight of the overhead plane. The best whites for NYC ceilings: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace OC-65 (pure, bright white), Benjamin Moore White Dove OC-17 (warm, slightly creamy), and Farrow & Ball All White 2005 (complex, slightly warm). All are better than the standard contractor flat white that comes in five-gallon buckets.
When to Paint the Ceiling a Color
Ceiling color — whether matching the walls, complementing the walls, or going its own direction — makes sense in specific scenarios: Low ceilings where you're going for intimacy rather than fighting perceived height; very small rooms (powder rooms, wine cellars, reading alcoves) where wrapping all surfaces in one color creates a cocooning effect; dining rooms where an unexpected ceiling color creates drama and enclosure; and rooms with elaborate millwork on the ceiling (coffered, beamed) where the architecture itself is the feature and color helps reveal it.
Pre-War Plaster Ceilings
Original plaster ceilings in NYC pre-war apartments are an asset — denser, more beautiful, and often featuring original decorative elements like cornices and medallions. They also crack, and those cracks are difficult to repair invisibly because the original plaster surface and the repair material are different. A professional skim coat over the entire ceiling surface, followed by high-quality flat paint, produces the smoothest possible result from an aged plaster ceiling.
Decorative Ceilings
Beyond color, ceilings offer decorative opportunities that most NYC apartment owners overlook: metallic paint on a powder room ceiling creates extraordinary drama; stenciled geometric patterns on a bedroom ceiling add pattern without wall commitment; a deep, glossy navy or lacquered surface on a dining room ceiling reflects candlelight magnificently.