family room, but in the pool table room, which had minimal wires and things
to deal with in the ceiling, we stained the rafters in a cherry-wood tone
and made little wood 'boxes' for the few wires. *(It happened to have a
ceiling there with suitable wood for that treatment).

Years ago when I used to paint we did a basement for a doctor. We
sprayed the ceiling black. It turned out real nice actually. The
black paint made everything sorta disappear yet everything was still
accessible.