Decorating rooms with vaulted ceilings is a trend that has always been there for ages, however, it has gathered stride again. Make these elegant ceilings appear distinct with unusual decorating ideas.
In today’s evolving age of home decoration, it is not surprising that the ancient vaulted ceiling type of architecture that was the charm of cathedrals of the old world are now seen in the “great rooms” of modern-day homes. People owning Victorian or Elizabethan style homes are probably most familiar with vaulted ceilings. The attics of most older style houses have vaulted ceilings. These ceilings actually impart a certain kind of spaciousness to a house due to their feature of spanning across the entire structure. This may get kind of annoying for many people, yet, vaulted ceiling ideas do tend to fascinate most people, even today. Either way, decorating a room with a vaulted ceiling can be one of the toughest challenges that an amateur has to face. To evade all from this dilemma, here is some helpful information.
Rooms with Vaulted Ceilings
A vaulted ceiling is actually a ceiling that rises on one side to form a slant, or both its sides to form a peak like structure in the middle. This structure actually adds a sort of majestic touch and a sense of drama to the room, plus the space! If done with a little creativity, they can look charming, and royal too.
Wooden Beams and White Walls
A polished wooden beam ceiling with white walls should be the ideal combination. This style imparts a more modern feel to it through the addition of a well cut and polished kitchen table that matches the color of the dining table and chairs. Keeping it simple will make it look elegant and that’s what you should be aiming at, because a vaulted ceiling should command elegance and class and not look something like a rock-star’s pad.
A slightly toned down version, where the room is smaller, has more color added to the walls as well as the furniture. Here you can experiment with a few colors here and there to make it look attractive. A slight Middle-Eastern Egyptian style touch to the whole atmosphere with the arrangement of the curtains and the articles can be used to decorate the place. A cactus plant can also be thrown in for good measure so as to accentuate the feel of the room.
Wooden Beams and Colored Walls
This is not a vaulted ceiling in the true sense but more of a hybrid between a vaulted ceiling and a slanting roof. The color makes the room look so much more attractive, then there’s the flip side to it. You may not always want your walls to be so gaudy that they jump out at you every time you enter. So use a bright color combination only after considerable thought.
The Attic or the Loft
An attic is small, so if you’re going to decorate it, then you’re going to be pretty close to the ceiling. But it will provide a different touch to the décor of the room, something that you’re not used to, so it will turn out just fine. Use a good color combination here because you will want to make the space appear as big as you can. Light wall colors and small furniture frames will make the place seem larger than it is.
If you want to hang light fixtures from the ceiling instead of having it fixed into it, try to do so in an area of the room that you will not visit often so that you don’t bump into it by mistake.
A few affordable tools that can be very handy in decorating rooms with vaulted ceilings are wallpapers and various border patterns. Combine wallpapers with colors that go along each other. You could also try a mix and match color combination to decorate the vaulted ceiling molding. Add contemporary plaids to the floral walls that will create a contrast on two walls and an upward angle, thus creating a rectangular frame, where you can set a sponge textured wallpaper to create a “window of sky”.
In case you have walls that are actually angled or curved, you can think of separating the pattern by adding a border or a vaulted ceiling molding. Here you can install a different kind of wallpaper, a novelty palm tree for instance. This will break the pattern and cause a great visual effect.
Consider adding a crown molding. There are two ways to go about it, one is to follow the slope of the vaulted ceiling design, and the other is to put the crown ceiling below the actual ceiling. The latter can create the visual effect of a smaller ceiling. Drop ceilings can also be a great idea. If you have to decorate a bedroom with a vaulted ceiling, you might think of creating a sleeping alcove at the slope of the vaulted ceiling molding.
Furniture Arrangement
Divide the room into two by the method of furniture grouping. If the room is very large, create something by combining the living room and the dining room. If the room has a fireplace or a window, place a love-seat with two small chairs near it. In the next corner, place the television set and a sofa, which will form an entertainment space. You can also add a small coffee table near the sofa. Place an ottoman or an easy chair near the third corner, or anywhere near the window.
For the walls, add a series of picture frames that contrast the wall colors. Use frames gradually increasing in size and set them just next to each other.
General Instructions
» The interior color combination will always play a vital role in enhancing the beauty of the ceiling. Make sure you avoid dark colors as they make the room’s space seem smaller. Painting a vaulted ceiling in rich colors will make it seem lower than that it is.
» You can use venation plaster, sponge and dry brushes with bolder colors to provide depth to the texture of the walls.
» Always try to use large furniture articles, such as large bookshelves, large and full upholster sofas, velvet covered chairs, and similar fabrics. If you have more than one bookshelf, you can arrange them in such a way that they will seem like room dividers.
» Try to avoid decorating rooms with mirrors. If a mirror has to be there, then set it in a place where any other light source will not be reflected. Place heavy accessories or houseplants, instead. You can also add a faux doorway to divide the room on a temporary basis.
Decorating rooms with vaulted ceilings is not the same as your average rectangular ceiling. You will need to refer to a lot of matter in order to do a thorough job. The point being that if you are going to be able to afford a house with a large vaulted ceiling then you should be able to have someone physically inspect the house and provide you with some inputs if you’re running out of ideas trying to decorate it. If decorated properly, the attractiveness of a house with a vaulted ceiling is unmatchable. All the Best!