I really did not want a drop ceiling. My husband did not want to sheetrock the ceiling in case we ever needed to get at the pipes etc. We came up with the idea of painting the ceiling black and we love it. It doesn't darken the space at all. And it actually gives more height since we didn't do the drop ceiling so it feels more open. We've since covered the black pole with heavy duty jute. You can find more on that in another one of my posts!
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