Painting - wall finishes

Can anyone help me? We are building a gameroom in our basement and need a suggestion on a ceiling finish. The walls are going to be wainscoated and have a smooth upper finish, but because of the many bulkheads we had to add, we would like to 'texture' the ceiling. We tried texture paint, but it was way too hard to handle. I am overwhelmed with the thought of sponging or trying these new faux finishes. Any suggestions?

Have you seen the new roller that is a sponge? It is great. Just roll away and it puts the sponge imprint on for you. Had a lot of fun painting walls with it but do not over load it with paint. If you don't like it you can always cover it up with something else or even layer different colors to make it special.

Thanks Ann for the suggestion.
I did see that sponge roller and it got my wheels turning for an idea for a future project.
We finally decided to thin out some joint compound and roller it on with the wire texture paint roller. The finish is just slightly rough. We painted over it (white) and I took some silver glitter and blew it on the wet paint with a straw. It left a very subtle look of freshly fallen snow on my ceiling!
I can't describe it very well, but it looks great!

WOW, that is a great idea, will have to try that one. I just love the new rollers out now that give all different texture to them. Ann