Shh, I have a secret....

...ok, quite a big secret, actually. As I've mentioned before, whoever built our house had quite the love affair with timber. Oh, and exposed bricks, but that's for a whole other post. So, as I was saying, we have timber everywhere. I've just covered a whole lot of it when I painted my kitchen cabinets, and the difference is amazing. But now that the kitchen is a lovely, glossy, gloriously bright white, the surrounding areas look a little, shall we say, shabby in comparison.

We have cathedral ceilings in our kitchen/dining area, and while I love their loftiness, I'd love them a whole lot more if they looked like this:

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Sadly for me, my ceiling looks nothing like these beauties. Yet. But it's now firmly on my soon-to-be-tackled list, as I can't stand it for much longer. Ok, just between you and me, this what my ceiling actually looks like:

oh dear!! and don't worry, the lights are on the hit-list too

 in accordance with blogger workplace health and safety regulations, the size of the above images has been kept to a minimum, as enlargement may cause serious eye injury

Ok, so I thought I knew exactly what to do - paint everything a clean, crisp white and live happily ever after. But then, the lovely Jules from A Diversion Project (of course you all know about her most excellent blog, don't you? If not, you need to get on over there stat...as soon as you're finished reading here, of course!) threw a spanner in the works. She posted this image:

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Aargh! I'm now torn between a complete whitewash, and these dramatic charcoal numbers! What to do? Do I stay true to my original vision, or do I go with something like this? 

Ok blog buddies, I need you to set me straight. Is it black or white? Or something in between? Each and every piece of advice will be gratefully received, I'm all asunder! As I've said before, i find it so much easier to make a decision for someone other than myself.

Have a great day everyone, and please feel free to send your opinions my way!

oh, and unfortunate images of ugly timber ceilings by me!