
Saved that one on my hard drive as "Ultra-white-vs-35-years-of-smoke". The original color of the walls and ceiling in that room was an off-white color called "Dusty Rhodes" after one of my Dad's bosses at work. It was a custom color mixed at the factory by my Dad.
Strange but true: Dad made paint for a living; until he retired we never had to buy house paint. And it is not just filial pride speaking when I say Montgomery Wards had the best paint out there.
Anyway, "Dusty Rhodes" was very very slightly red, so close to white that only my Dad (or the $35,000 in 1975 money colorimiter they had) could tell exactly how off-white it was. In strong sunlight anyone could see it, but lit by the light of a few incandescent bulbs in 1982 it was virtually invisible.
The color that you see in that image is not "Dusty Rhodes". Not even slightly. The color in that image is "35 years of--".
Wait. Mom died in 2010. So that color is in fact "28 years of cigarette smoke". Still.
Ye cats.
Anyway, the ceiling in the family room is now white again, and I used up the entire gallon of paint to do it. I'm not done; Mrs. Fungus wants me to do another coat to make sure the color is even, because right now it's not thanks to that 28 years' worth of cigarette smoke. Even so it looks a ton better than it did before I painted it.
Never had hiding problems with Montgomery Wards' paint, at least not before Dad retired. These days if you want guaranteed one-coat hiding you pay a premium for the paint; as it is I paid $30 for this gallon of paint. Cripes.
Well: it's a good start on what's going to be a long project. All the ceilings, all the rooms need painting, and guess who gets to do it?