Painting your home this weekend? How a statement ceiling could transform your interiors in just two days
If you need to make a room feel bigger or cosier than it is, painting your ceiling can have a big impact. Try it over a long weekend for a dramatic, contemporary look in any interiors space.
If you have low ceilings, you can still paint them in a colourful hue — just try the same as that which you have used on your walls. This makes the ceiling height less defined and can make the room seem bigger than it is.
For high ceilings, you can paint the ceiling in a contrasting, darker shade for a cocoon-like feel.
Interior designers Nicola Keenan and Nicola Lindsell, co-founders of Boxx Creative design studio, recommend choosing a flat matt emulsion paint for colourful ceilings, “A high sheen or gloss finish will reflect around the room and produce glare.”
“There is a common misconception that dark ceilings make a room feel gloomy and closed in, small and claustrophobic. Its actually the exact opposite,” says Keenan.
“If you have high ceilings, and you wish to create a cosier, more intimate feeling, paint the ceiling darker so its feels like it’s closer to you and the room feels smaller and more intimate.”
Splash of gold: co-ordinate your fixtures and fittings with a new ceiling colour. Mad About the House blogger Kate Watson Smyth has embraced the look in her new office
Play with colour and textures
Once you’ve chosen your ceiling colour, you’ve painted it and you’re sticking with it, there are other ways to incorporate the colour in the space without going overboard. Crucially, these don’t all have to be added at once.
“Lighting really helps to create an impressive wow factor and bold design statement,” says Keenan. “Lighting fixtures, such as a glass chandelier or coloured fabric or metal pendant light, look far better against a coloured ceiling as they stand out more than on a white ceiling.”
“Use pops of lighter or brighter accents colours [elsewhere in the room] to break up the scheme and provide visual interest,” adds Keenan, “It’s a good idea to play with patterns and textures.”
Scroll through our gallery above for key accessories to dot throughout your space to tie in with bold painted ceiling projects.
