A room with low ceilings can feel squat and uninspired. The key: colour, colour palette and rules for painting can really change that feeling and make your low ceilinged room feel more proportional and more comfortable.
Light Colour Palette:
One of the best ways to make it feel larger and taller is to use a light or pale colour palette. Light colours reflect more light and make your space feel airy and spacious. Keeping the colours homogenous will help your eye easily move around the room and there will be less of a focus on the low ceiling.
You can use light colors on the walls, ceiling, floor, and furniture for that light and spacious feeling.
Dark Colour Palette:
And... If you really want to use dark colours, then here's your chance! The key to using dark colours in a room with low ceilings is to create an envelope of colour all around. Consider painting that dark colour on your ceiling as well. The minute you eliminate that horizontal line between the wall and the ceiling with a dark colour, your ceilings will feel taller because you won’t be focused on the contrast between the wall colour and the ceiling colour.
Dark colours can help to create a jewel-box effect, where low, sloped or uneven ceilings disappear into that same colour. It’s kind of a magical effect!
Painting Rules for Crown Moulding:
Crown mouldings in rooms with low ceilings need to be treated in a special way. Typically, crown moulding is painted the same colour as your ceilings (white usually). However, if you have low ceilings and you paint your crown moulding the same colour as your ceiling, your eye will be drawn down from the ceiling and extend the line of the ceiling ceiling farther down.
You may even find crown moulding painted a different colour from the ceiling and the walls such as these first two images below. In both instances, the crown moulding creates a strong horizontal element, making your room feel short and squat.
Crown mouldings should always be painted the same colour as your walls! This is such an important trick as it draws your eye upward along the wall.
Painting your crown the same as your walls will visually elevate your walls up to the ceiling. It will emphasize the vertical height of your walls, not the horizontal aspect of your ceilings. This is what you absolutely must do if you have low ceilings and crown moulding.
By following these rules, you’ll be able to enhance your room, despite its low ceilings, and create a space that feels more proportional and more comfortable.
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Low Ceilings? Easy…
Everything you need to know about designing a room with low ceilings and how to make the room feel proportional and comfortable.