Tricks and Tips for HIGHER CEILINGS

Have you realized that in old buildings or houses the ceilings where higher? Here in poznan’s city center, old buildings apartments are bigger and have beautiful high ceilings! I’d love to live there. But lets face it. Im already married.. soon will have kids, and I would like them to have a place where to go out and play and stuff like that, and new developers aren’t making that kind of buildings anymore. Of course they’re nice and modern, but roofs are lower.

So, how to make them seem higher?

Here are some tips:

1)      Always keep the ceiling color lighter than the walls. You might be thinking: duh.. of course. But hey, some people don’t know this and some like having crazy colored ones. This will draw you eye upward. You can also paint the first 5-10cm of the ceiling, the same color as the walls and it will give the illusion of them being taller.

Another tip is to use a glossy paint (or semi-glossy), this will reflect light and make it seem higher. (I’m not really a fan of it, but it’s a tip).

2)      Dark floor with a light ceiling will also make the room look higher.

3)      Don’t hang anything from the ceiling. A chandelier will only draw attention to the ceiling and make it seem even lower. No ceiling fans, moldings or overhead lighting either.

4)      Hang your curtains from floor to ceiling, it will look soooo nice and wont break up your wall.

5)      Avoid chair rails and other horizontal stuff. This will make them feel lower because it will be breaking up the wall. Its like in fashion: using a belt will not make you look taller or ligher. But ok.. IF YOU WANT IT, usually its supposed to be located about 1/3 up the wall.. but put it lower, this will trick the eye.

6)      Avoid thick basebords (that piece of wook that boarders the whole room at the very bottom).

7)      Use vertical patterns. Vertical sripes. This will help draw the eye upward.

8)      Hang paintings and picture frames up high. It will help if they are  vertical ones or with some strong vertical lines in them.

9)      Wall lightning instead or overhead ones.

10)    Mirrors. It will reflect natural and artificial light, whick will brighten up the room.

Was this helpful? :)

Amazing how something so simple can change a room, huh???

vertical elements

floor to ceiling curtains (I love this way of hanging them)

squared frames (above) vs vertical ones (below).

see the difference???

 decorpad.com