Don’t forget the ceiling, please!

You know… ceilings make up about one-sixth of an interior space but are often neglected in the majority of interiors. So many residential homes have the textured “popcorn” effect ceiling treatment, used in large part because it’s less expensive for the builder and masks imperfections.

And yet if we just paid a little attention to our ceilings they can make our rooms all that much more special!

When we renovated our home I was insistent that we NOT get popcorn ceilings in any of our rooms! Fortunately Brian agreed. He’s a good guy!! Of course that meant we had to take extra care to ensure that the drywall seams in the ceiling weren’t visible – we had to tape and then mud & sanding several times to make them perfect. Okay… I shouldn’t say “we”… Brian did most of the work on the walls and ALL of the work on the ceilings! My job was to paint :-) And paint I did.

Our bedroom ceiling was painted in Benjamin Moore’s Sandy Brown with Cloud White on the crown moulding and trim. It’s a lovely and warm affect when juxtaposed with the wall colour, Stanley Park. In fact, the ceiling along the wardrobe wall is about 4” lower then the main ceiling… to shake things up a bit, I decided to paint that section the same colour as the walls. I love the affect and think it looks great, particularly when you’re lying in bed! In fact the view below is exactly what I see from my side of the bed. To see more of our bedroom go HERE.

For our dining room ceiling I wanted something more formal so I talked Brian into installing a faux coffered ceiling. I’m so happy with the affect!! I opted for the pattern you see below for 2 reasons: 1) the chandelier isn’t centred in the room (there’s a logical reason!) – if we’d done a standard grid the off-centre chandelier would have been glaringly obvious, and 2) I wanted to mimic the mullions in our windows. Like the bedroom, I painted the ceiling in this room in Sandy Brown (although I’m seriously thinking about painting it white), the trim in Cloud White. The walls are Bronze Tone, a wonderful warm orange. To see more of my dining room go HERE.

What we did with our ceilings was, in the big scheme of things, pretty basic – an easy way to bring interest to a room.

But there are so many wonderful ceiling treatments and I had fun finding some to share with you!

Let’s start off with a standard coffered ceiling…

Such LOVELY detailing!

And speaking of detailing… what do you think of the ceiling below? I’m wondering if I should ask Brian if he’d put similar squares at our joined beams… share your thoughts!!

Both of the above photos came from the Cambridge Ceilings website.

Take a look at these dramatic and traditional ceilings from JEIDesign, Inc.!

I couldn’t showcase wonderful ceilings without sharing a room posted earlier today by Brooke at Velvet & Linen. She and her husband Steve – the principles of Giannetti Architecture and Interiors Inc. – designed this wonderful home for one of their clients. Make sure you make your way back to Velvet & Linen so you can see more photos of this FABULOUS home!!

Without doubt, this whole room is simply wonderful… the stunning and romantic chandelier, the unexpected colours in the rug, picked up in the ottoman, lamp and bed pillows… but of course this post is about ceilings. I LOVE this tongue ‘n groove white ceiling – it adds a whimsical, fresh look to the room while adding important texture and visual interest to the space. I want this room!!

Patricia Gray, a talented Interior Designer and author of the blog Patricia Gray/Interior Design, recently wrote a post about ceiling treatments and showcased some gorgeous ceilings – here are a few of my favourites:

The tin ceiling in the kitchen above is great – I plan on doing something similar, although in a paintable application, when we renovate our main-floor bathroom. I can’t wait! And how wonderful are the ceilings in the other two photos? I’m going to file them away for when we win the lottery and build our dream home!! :-)

How about some wood ceilings?

The above kitchen is from a condo development called Aspen 6.

I’m in LOVE with the ceiling in the Vienna Way Residence kitchen that Kelly showcased earlier this week. I can look at this kitchen, and it’s unbelievably beautiful ceiling, forever! To see more of the stunning kitchen, click HERE.

These ceilings are fun – colourful and totally modern.

I’m actually kinda CRAZY about the last of these three photos… I love the modern rendition of a wall/ceiling mural and the equally modern take on a traditional floral motif. I also think it’s fab that the room’s architecture and line suggests that the building is older – made modern with design.

The above three photos were found at Great Interior Design

These next photos… okay, I couldn’t help myself… I had to share!!

This ceiling found in a flat in Russia is downright strange!

I implore you… don’t do this particular ceiling treatment in your home!!

But I do ask… when decorating your home don’t forget the ceiling! As you can see, there are many ceiling options to consider that will enhance your home! To use a well known Nike slogan: “Just do it!”

Victoria from EdinDesign Interiors