With all the ways we decorate a four-walled room, one space tends to go neglected: ceilings.
“It’s kind of your fifth wall,” said Ami Smith, proprietor of Charlottesville’s Embellish Interiors. “It can be a sort of accent.”
Indeed, it can be a lot of things. Here are a few ideas offered by Smith and other local designers to dress up your own fifth walls.
Paint. The easiest—and often least expensive—way to get your ceiling into the déc or mix is to put some color on it. Bold shades, metallic paint or opalescence can be effective in small spaces like foyers or powder rooms; lighter shades of blue and gray are your best bet for large rooms. Paint works particularly well with coffered or other textured ceilings, as the molding breaks up the hues.
Faux structural pieces. With the right amount space above your head (at least 9′), there’s nothing you can’t add to make your ceiling a bit more interesting. Coffering, typically thought of as a structural element, can also be added as a decorative piece. “It’s kind of an arts-and-crafts style,” Smith said. “I do feel like it is pretty versatile.”
Metallic treatments. Shiny metal is a great way to attract guests’ attention to your ceilings. Think gold or silver leafing (a high-end finish) or tin ceiling tiles (an even higher-end, a.k.a. pricier, treatment). “I love a metallic ceiling in a dining room,” Smith said.
Wood. Using flooring materials on both the top and bottom of a room is an interesting, but expensive, way to draw eyes up. Some older buildings have wood covered by their drop ceilings, meaning removing a layer or two will expose a rustic base.
Wallpaper. Papering walls was once about as cool as writing a term paper, but these days it’s back, and Posner suggested it can work for ceilings, as well. Not only can standard wallpaper work in some applications, but adventurous home designers could go for a custom design produced by a local printer.
Fabric. You don’t want to make your room like a kids’ fort, but an expertly drawn piece of light fabric, even something inexpensive like you can get at Jo-Ann Fabrics, can make a bedroom whimsical and fun. “You start in the middle and then pinch your way down…with four panels of fabric coming down to each wall,” said Anna Posner, who runs Anna Gaines Interiors. “You need a 1′ drop to make an impact.”
With no pun intended, Posner suggested the sky’s the limit when it comes to decorating ceilings: “Whatever people do to their walls, they can do to their ceilings.”
The white way
If your rooms are short—below 9’—a plain ceiling is probably your best option, according to designer Leslie Burns. “That’s typically what’s used because of the way color bounces around rooms,” she said. “It lifts the ceiling and makes it feel higher and spacious.”
Light touches
Lighting is the old guard of ceiling design, but there are ways to give it a modern touch. As with most ceiling treatments, higher is better, and with extremely high ceilings, Crozet-based designer Leslie Burns suggested applying lights on top of open beams. Smith suggests chandelier medallions, which are trending right now. The pieces, which highlight light fixtures’ attachment points, might be high-end metal/molded structures or lower cost surface treatments like decals.