Change the Ceiling
The surface nobody remodels and everybody looks at.
What it does
The ceiling is the largest uninterrupted surface in most rooms and the one left white by default. Painting it, boarding it or exposing the beams changes the proportions of a room more cheaply than anything happening at eye level.
How to use it
- 1Photograph with as much ceiling in frame as you can manage.
- 2Describe the treatment — colour, boarding, beams, panelling.
- 3Try it darker than feels comfortable; ceilings take more than people expect.
Questions
- Will a dark ceiling make the room feel lower?
- Often the opposite — it removes the hard line where wall meets ceiling, so the edges stop announcing the height.
- Does it change the walls?
- No. Only the ceiling plane and anything mounted on it.