You don’t have to complete an entire home makeover to enhance your style or update your space. Sometimes, all it takes to transform the rooms in your house is updating the ceiling. The ceiling has a large impact on how a room feels and looks. Intentionally taking advantage of this can enhance your home’s overall feel and style, leading to a higher home value when done correctly.
You don’t need 10-foot ceilings to make your room feel taller. Making smart choices and subtle changes can draw your attention to gorgeous features and make a room feel spacious and taller.
Before embarking on the journey, consider your room dimensions and style. You’ll want to make changes that will stand the test of time and add to the overall design of your home.
Here are a few ideas to get you started!
1. Add a Chandelier
Adding a chandelier can drastically change the mood in a room. With a little bit of patience and research, you can find one that fits your style and matches your design throughout the home.
You can even save a bit of money by looking at local antique shops or visiting estate sales. Repurposing or refinishing old chandeliers can give your home an authentic look and feel you won’t find in any department stores.
Make sure to consider your room height before purchasing a chandelier. You won’t want your guests to hit their heads when walking through your house, so it’s best to use this in taller areas of the home.
2. Install Wallpaper
If you’re working with low ceilings, you can still have fun and enhance your room’s look and feel by installing wallpaper. Adding wallpaper will create a dramatic effect as soon as you walk into the room, but you won’t add anything that hangs down or makes the room feel shorter.
This technique can make the room feel taller by drawing your eyes up and adding interest that otherwise would not be there. If you have white walls and a neutral pallet, you can add colorful wallpaper or keep it simple and muted if you already have tons of color in the room.
3. Use a Patterned Tile
Using patterned tiles is a great way to add texture without making the room feel crowded or outdated. Using a tin tile to mimic the look of an old diner can add charm and interest to your rooms.
This would look great in a kitchen or dining area and prevent the room from feeling shorter after the remodel. You can use bronze, gold, silver, or any other color that matches your personal style. If you’re running short on cash and time, you can even use the peel-and-stick option in smaller rooms and achieve the same look!
4. Dark and Moody
If you have a large space, don’t be afraid to use dark ceilings. This works in larger rooms because with natural light shining through, the dark color won’t make the room feel like a cave or closed-in.
Using a dark color like a deep blue or a concrete color and texture on the ceiling can create a moody vibe without impeding on the room’s height. You can use the same color as your accent wall or use the opportunity to create contrast in your space.
5. Add Beams
For tall areas like the living room or bedrooms with high ceilings, adding wooden beams can create a dramatic change and enhance the overall feel of the home. This could be a fantastic option if you have a farmhouse or French-inspired design style.
Even in industrial-style homes, exposing the rafters or wooden beams will create architectural interest and draw your eyes up when you walk into the room. Finding faux beams made from durable styrofoam can save some time and money. They look just like the real thing but cost a fraction of the price of real wooden beams.
A great advantage of adding beams is gaining a form of contrast in the house. The dark color or the wood next to the white ceilings will add gorgeous contrast and tie in with the wooden accents and natural contrasts around the rest of the home.
6. Install Shiplap
Regardless of your home design, adding shiplap to the ceiling will instantly draw your eyes up and add some charm to your room. You can leave the wood in its natural state or paint it all one color to keep it subtle.
Staining the wood or keeping the natural color will look great in homes that lean towards a farmhouse or French-inspired style, while painting it white will look great in coastal or cottage-inspired homes.
7. Create a Board and Batten Look
Working with low ceilings can be challenging when you want to add architectural features to your room. A great way to enhance a room with low ceilings is by using a board and batten technique.
Adding thin pieces of wood and creating the squared-off look you love on your walls can completely transform your space. This looks great in modern homes, farmhouse homes, and even traditional-style homes.
If you already have board and batten on your walls, you can continue the technique up and over to the opposite wall, creating a unique and interesting style that will make the room feel large and cohesive.
8. Change the Fans
If you’re strapped on time and cash, simply changing out the ceiling fan can make a huge difference to your room without putting a dent in your wallet. Switching out the stock fan for something unique to your home adds to your style, enhances your space, and gives your room some much-needed charm.
Using a small industrial-style fan for modern and mid-century homes or a wicker textured fan for coastal homes can change the mood and add a fun element to your space. It’s a cost-efficient change that will make a huge difference!
9. Choose a Unique Light Fixture
Adding a unique light fixture can change your room’s feel and overall look. Whenever possible, try to tie in elements that represent you or your style for a more authentic and personal effect on your space.
Using unexpected elements is another great way to add charm to your room. A wicker basket turned upside down or making a chandelier out of nautical rope, for example, can create beautiful light fixtures that become one-of-a-kind statement pieces.