Ceilings are a much neglected surface for paint. I have decorator friend who claim a ceiling should never be anything but white, but I disagree.
I used a midnight blue on the ceiling of my studio against everyone's advice (they all claimed it would bring the ceiling down) but I found it was like working outdoors on a clear night. The ceiling all but disappeared from my consciousness.
I have done murals on several ceilings, included pale blue with fluffy little clouds in a nursery, and the canopy of a forest in a young man's room.
I love to do the faux coffered ceiling look by adding a moulding a foot or so from the wall and painting the outer area a slightly darker shade of the colour I paint the inner area. Even if you just paint the ceiling a much lighter colour of your wall colour it tends to add a bit of something special to the room.
wall color
depends on if you want people's eyes to be drawn to them or not. if you want the beams to blend in, paint them the same color as the rest, if you want it to make a statement, paint them a different color. the more different the color, the more it will stick out.
Paint the ceiling first. Work top down.
In my opinion just leave the ceiling white. If you paint it the same color as the walls it makes that space seem smaller or enclosed like a box.
Assuming you want to cover up the purple so you can start over: buy the type of paint that covers water stains, deep colors. Kilz makes a paint that does that. Then, paint over that with the color you do want.
No
no
The brush should be small and you should tape the ceiling to protect it but otherwise the brush doesn't matter much.
If it is a light color I would think it would look OK, but it will make your room look smaller. How about one wall in a dark color and a contrasting color on the walls. Make a stencil and put clouds on the ceiling. I did this in my kitchen.
you should paint them blue
What kind of dried paint? What is under the paint on the ceiling? ....on the metal?
It's entirely at the owners preference.