10 June 2008

Up, Up and Away

the most famous ceiling of all - The Sistine Chapel


So I met with a client this week who asked me the age-old question : "What do I do with the ceiling...I'm not so sure, so I left it white". O.K., people I am here to tell you - the ceiling is the fifth wall - it needs to be addressed, dressed and fabulous-ed up. When the ceiling is finished, that wow factor, that extra something that I always talk about, the attention to detail, blah blah blah, IT is achieved. It is the designer touch that lets everyone who passes through the room know that you HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER. Let's peruse, shall we?



The most obvious and inexpensive solution is to paint the ceiling, not to leave it white. We here at Inhabit Design usually paint the ceiling two shades lighter than the wall color - with some exceptions. Whenever a dramatic color is used, such as a deep red, or a rich eggplant, then a neutral color is selected for the ceiling (ie: tan or beige) Remember, there are no set rules in design, only guidelines to abide by or totally throw out the window - it's your call.


Observe this painted wall and ceiling. While this is an extreme example, it really shows how our eyes stop at the white, especially when there is a vibrant color on the wall. So how much better would this room have looked had it been painted a tad bit lighter than the walls? It would have been more complete and would have flowed and well, I'm not sure what the intentions were for the room, but it could have been THE COMPLETE PACKAGE, or something close to it.




Let's move on to lifestyles of the ridiculous and budgetless:




A cool home theater with an even cooler painted ceiling






and while we're on the nursery kick....





I've always wanted to do a tented ceiling, but it doesn't work well with air conditioning vents in the ceiling. A girl can dream, right?



www.hunterhotels.com/marataba



How gorgeous is this porcelain ceiling by David Wiseman?







This is a ceiling of a poolhouse designed by Robin Bell as shown in House Beautiful. Aaahhhhhh



YIKES....




(just checking, are you scrolling, or actually paying attention?)




DELICIOUS!!!!




There are so many options - basically anything you can do with a wall you can do to a ceiling. Paint it, panel it with wood, wallpaper it, hang things from it, coffer it, add moulding pieces to it, glue sticks to it, weave pieces of dried branches together and drop it, tent fabric from it, - let your imagination run wild. Call us, your friendly Las Vegas Interior Designers, we'll be happy to dress your ceiling properly.

3 comments:

Sunnee said...

How much do I love that nursery? I'm so printing that and putting it on my inspiration board...

I don't really have an inspiration board yet, but your post has inspired me to get one.

Silly question: I'm noticing a lot of white on walls lately, especially in these hoitty toitty coastal homes and lofts. Knowing that not all whites are created equal, does the same detail need to be applied to those ceilings? I mean, does it really make that big of a difference that white # 3 is on the wall and white # 1 is on the ceiling?

Sincerely,
Clueless on white in San Diego

inhabit said...

If you are making an inspiration board, you MUST check out desiretoinspire.blogspot.com They have gorgeous inspiration pictures. As for the white rooms, I think that 1 white should do it, the 2 different whites would really not be noticeable. If you use a flat paint on the ceiling, as we normally do, the white on the ceiling may look a little different, but I would definitely just go with 1 white.

Anonymous said...

omg.. i want that nursery right now.. i love those colors.. I want my whole house to look like that!
I have always been scared to do anything other than paint,but that porcelain is sooo freaking gorgeous!

Apture