What's that? Painted ceilings you say? Well yes, yes I do.
Hi, howdy, hey there friends!!
I hope you are all doing well. It is starting to get chilly here, AND it is officially November now. I am not ready for that. Do you know how many birthdays I have in November? And then there's ThanksGIVING and the fact that it's almost December. Where it's even colder, plus more birthdays AND more holidays. My psyche is not ready for all of that. But such is life, amiright?
Anywho-ha. This week I want to talk about ceiling treatments. The 'ol stand by white ceiling is moving over. There are all sorts of fun things you can do on that blank canvas at the top of every room. Unless you live in a spherical or egg shape house. In which case, how cool is that? Invite me over so I can see and maybe I'll bring roller skates. I'm kidding, I won't bring roller skates. I can't skate really, I can just move the one foot. But still, consider inviting me over, or at least send pictures. Kthx.
Sorry if I made that awkward, with the skates. Anyway. Ceilings. Painting them, it's neat. White ceilings are classic, and if you have the 'ol eight foot high guys, then it does a lot of justic to the space. But don't default to white, look at your space and see what you have for options up there. Do you have any fun architectural features that you can highlight, i.e. coffers, beams, trays? Get some fun paint going on to accent that shiz!
Going tonal with your paints is a small step into the world of accents on ceilings. It ties in smoothly to the rest of the home and still creates a sharp contrast to become a clean, fun focal point. One of the key things to do with this design feature, is to outline it with white trim, really offsetting that dark accent color and making it pop.
Another great way to dress up your ceiling without stepping too far outside of the standard comfort zone, is taking soft, muted colors to the ceiling and keeping your walls light or neutral.
This muted seafoam ceiling brings color into the otherwise neutral space, but isn't SO bold that it detracts from the rest of the space. I also love how the espresso floors ground the light airy cabinets and ceiling.
Another fabulous idea for a ceiling, is....wait for it......wallpaper. You heard me! Wallpaper!! It can add SO much texture to a ceiling and really make a great statement. I know there are stereotypes that come to mind when you think of wallpaper. It's usually gingham and chickens, or the once-ever-so-popular wallpaper borders. Those days are gone my friends, wallpaper is back, with style this time.
In this installation, I love what the wallpaper is doing, adding some rich texture to a neutral space, AND saving the cost of putting actual wood up on your ceilings. Real wood is gorgeous on ceilings, to be sure, but they just aren't as common as drywall. So, if you love that look, and want to save, consider faux wood wallpaper. Of course there are eleventy-billion other patterns of wallpaper out there that you can use on ceilings too, textural patterns, graphic, botanical, you name it, it's out there.
As far as just, straight painting on your flat regular life ceilings, there are a few methods out there.
You can obviously just go for it and slap something bold and gorgeous up there. I love the way it is executed in this space, with the deeply saturated purple on the ceiling and the light, neutral colors everywhere else. The deep color works well in this space because they have high ceilings, loads of natural light and neutral finishes throughout the space.
Now if your ceilings aren't so fabulously tall,
You can start it roughly a quarter way down the wall and carry it up onto the ceiling. This will add height to the space, as long as you keep the lower portion of the walls light and bright. It seems counterintuitive that a darker ceiling paint would add height to the space, but splitting the dark and light in these proportions draws the eye up to the high contrast of the darker element while the light lower portion softens the space.
The last ceiling paint treatment I want to talk about today is patterns.
As with wallpaper, the options are endless. You can simply tape off a pattern suited the the shape and size of the space and go to town. Or you can get any of a number of stencils available and slap those babies up there too. You can also be a super amazing person and freehand all sorts of cool jazz up there. Like I said man, the options are endless.
Wowzers, I feel like I had a lot to say about ceilings! I'm ok with it, because they are an exciting and unexpected part of a space to play around with, and people need to hear about it. So I thought I would go ahead and add more pictures and words to the interwebs on the topic, because, why not?
I hope this post has inspired you to slap some paint up on your ceiling or tell a friend to. It's a pretty neat thing to do.
Later gaters.
- D
