Ceilings may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about home building, but they can make or break the mood and aesthetic of a room. Learn about popular home Ceilings Perth types that add beauty, value and character to your custom homes.
Whether decorated with elaborate carvings, tin tiles or paintings, historical ceilings convey opulence and grandeur. Today, modern builders can choose from several ceiling materials to create the perfect look.
Tray Ceiling
While most homeowners tend to spend their home improvement dollars on things like changing out flooring, installing new cabinets and altering walls with wall paper or a fresh coat of paint, the ceiling can be a great place to express your design personality. This is especially true for tray ceilings, which add a sense of depth to a room and can help it feel more spacious.
The recessed ceiling also creates the perfect frame for artwork, so you can try adding stencils along the border for a subtle hint of color or go all out and add painted murals or patterned tiles to the center of the tray. The light fixture is another big element that can make or break how a room feels, so you can experiment with placing it in the center of the tray for an elegant feel or at one of the corners to add drama to your space.
According to HGTV, a tray ceiling can be a great option for the bedroom because it will help to create a more intimate feel in the room. However, you can use this ceiling in any room to create a unique look that will impress your guests and add value to your home.
Whether you want to create a dramatic statement or simply accentuate your living room, you can transform your existing ceiling into a recessed tray ceiling with a few simple steps. Start by drawing out the shape of your recessed area with chalk lines. Screw furring strips into the ceiling joists along these lines to form the shape of your tray, and then install drywall over the furring strip. Attach a drywall to the inside of the tray and trim with an EZ trim beading designed for recessed ceilings. Finally, prime and paint your ceiling using ceiling paint.
If you’re building a new home, consider installing your ceiling in a tray shape during the construction process to save time and money. If you’re working with an existing home, then the ceiling joists or trusses will need to be modified to accommodate your tray ceiling, which is a job that should be left to a professional who can make sure that the structure is safe and structurally sound.
Beamed Ceiling
A vaulted ceiling with exposed beams is a classic design feature that adds drama and a sense of strength to a room. Typically found in older homes, this ceiling style can make a space feel cozier and more inviting. Exposed wood beams can blend well with most design styles and a variety of color schemes. When designing a beamed ceiling, consider the size of your home and what other wood features are present. This will ensure the ceiling doesn’t upstage your furniture or overwhelm the room with excessive wood.
If you’re unable to install real wood ceiling beams, faux options are available. These molded fiberglass or high-density polyurethane ceiling beams are much lighter than solid wood, and can be installed without an engineer’s approval. They also look remarkably like the real thing, and can be painted or stained to match your decor.
Historically, exposed ceiling beams were used for structural purposes, keeping side walls from being pushed apart by the force of a roof. However, the modern trend is to utilize them primarily for their aesthetic appeal. Exposed beams are a common element in cottages, farmhouses and castles, as well as in many modern residential homes.
To create a vaulted ceiling with exposed beams, you’ll need to have a joist-based structure. This type of ceiling is characterized by joists running parallel to one another, with wires and ducts running through the joists or snaking through holes drilled in the ceiling. When you choose to open a ceiling for the exposed beam look, all of these wires and ducts will be visible, too.
In addition to exposing ducts and wires, a vaulted ceiling with exposed beams can be a great way to highlight architectural details. If your home has a groin-vault ceiling, for example, you can accent it with wooden beams to highlight the arches that define the shape of the v. You can also accent a coffered ceiling with a beam treatment, creating a focal point that draws the eye away from the conventional ceiling and towards your home’s design elements.
Adding beams to a ceiling can help to open up a space, but remember that too many will overwhelm a room. To avoid overcrowding a ceiling with too much wood, limit the number of beams to a few across the center of the room, and spread out the remaining beams evenly across the ceiling.
Barrel-Vaulted Ceiling
Often seen in historical buildings, barrel vault ceilings add a sense of grandeur to rooms. They can also enhance sound distribution, which makes them useful in auditoriums and other large rooms. A barrel ceiling can be used to create an interesting geometric design, or it can be left plain in order to highlight other architectural elements of a room. These types of ceilings can be difficult to install and require special construction techniques.
A barrel vault can be made of a variety of materials, including wood. It can be painted to match other decorative features of a room, or it can be stained to bring out the natural beauty of the material. In addition, this type of ceiling is a great option for adding lighting to a room. Its shape can create a unique effect that highlights the light fixture and makes it look more interesting.
Barrel vaults are a popular choice for many different styles of architecture. They can be found in Roman-style buildings, and they have been incorporated into several ancient Egyptian structures. They are also a common feature in modern cathedrals and churches. This type of ceiling can be used in new home construction, or it can be added to an existing house. However, before you decide to add this ceiling, you should have it inspected by an engineer to ensure that the structure can support the load. It is also important to keep in mind that a barrel vault does not increase usable space, so it is not suitable for all homeowners.
There are a variety of designs for barrel vaults, from the soft arch to the elliptical and pointed. Each type of vault has its own benefits and drawbacks. The soft arch vault, for example, is a continuous arched ceiling that has a gentle curve from wall to wall. It is also known as an eyebrow vault or a segmented vault. The elliptical and pointed vaults, on the other hand, have a more constant curve across the entire length of the room.
Barrel vaults can be clad in a wide variety of materials, including wood, brick and stone. For example, the curved ceiling of this extension project was clad in tongue-and-groove panelling. This type of cladding is especially suited to barrel vaults, as it can help to make the ceiling appear taller and more visually interesting.
Decorative Paint Techniques
Decorative painting is an artistic technique that can be used to add flair to walls and ceilings, or even entire rooms. It encompasses styles like painted faux finishes, murals, stenciling and trompe-l’oeil. Mastering these techniques is an excellent way to enhance a room’s visual appeal, and they can also serve as an expression of one’s personal style and taste.
While white remains a popular color for ceilings because it makes them look brighter and larger, don’t be afraid to experiment with other colors or even patterns. Many interior designers now use the ceiling as a canvas for creating stylish contrasts and even dramatic effects. Color blocking is an especially intriguing trend for ceilings, and it can be a wonderful way to tie together a room’s overall color scheme.
Paint stripes are another great option for ceilings, and they can be as wide or narrow as desired. Whether they are tone-on-tone or contrasting, stripes always create a striking effect on ceilings and can work well with any type of room. Using a striping brush is recommended, as it is much easier to get straight lines with this tool than freehand painting.
If you’re looking for something a little more unique, consider adding an eye-catching texture to your ceiling with a stippling or sponged finish. This can help draw attention to architectural details or highlight an interesting pattern, and it can be a good choice for slanted ceilings, as it can visually lower the room.
Another way to make a ceiling more appealing is to highlight its beams and wood trim with a coordinating shade of paint. This can help to make the space feel more intimate and cozy, and it is also an attractive alternative to crown molding. If you’re tackling this task yourself, it is always wise to tape off the walls before you start painting to avoid accidentally getting paint on them or making a mess of your hard work.
If you aren’t quite ready to commit to a permanent painted ceiling, consider using temporary wallpaper decals on the ceiling. These can be sprayed on in place of a flat or satin ceiling paint, and they can quickly and easily update a space with an attractive new look. The best part is that the decals are easy to remove when it’s time to switch to a different design.
