The new house also has low ceilings…8 ft upstairs, 7.5 ft downstairs. Husband is 6’3″ and says the place feels short, especially downstairs.
I know there’s got to be a way to make it feel taller using window treatments and wall treatments, but it seems that in all the decorating magazines the big problem addressed these days is “bringing the ceiling closer” to make tall rooms cozy. So I’m getting no help from those guys.
How can I make my downstairs rooms feel taller?
MF
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Replies
I see you're not getting much response. Since no one has said anything yet, I'll offer what little I can, and I mean this as a serious, not a wise-aleck, response. What about finding out what people do to bring ceilings down, and do the opposite?
Thank you for your response--I know you're not trying to be a wiseacre. I should have been more clear about what I was having difficulty with in the other magazines.
It seems that the things people do to bring ceilings down is adding ceiling molding or false beams. The opposite of that would be doing neither, which is the case by default...there are no moldings and no beams.
Having given this some thought, I think if I can use some vertical structures in the rooms, perhaps using draperies with vertical striping, that may help. I've also heard that dark colors make walls appear to recede, but I've never heard of anyone having light walls and a dark ceiling to make the ceiling recede...I'm having difficulty picturing that approach as successful.
I'd really love to hear from someone with the same problem who's had experience resolving it, before I go trying to paint the ceiling purple (or something). I'm already working with the vertical approach to window treatment (yesterday's project), but so far it doesn't seem to be enough.
MF
Muddy,
There's a thread somewhere around here on color where I talk about what we did in our bedrooms, which is to paint the ceilings a dark color and the walls a light color. In spite of what the magazines say (I've seen advice to paint ceilings dark when you want to bring them down), to me it makes the room feel taller, but I'm a shorty anyway so I'm not a reliable source. Plus, you have to look at the lighting in the room. We have dark ceilings in a room where the majority of the time is spent with task lighting, and that is one of the reasons I think it works. I think that a good lighting design for your rooms might be your first order of business for getting the effect you want. You can do a lot with light.
If you want to make the ceilings seem taller with paint, then your most effective technique would be a good tromp l'oeil treatment. If you aren't afraid of a little construction work, have you considered ripping down the drywall (or plaster?) and leaving the ceiling joists exposed? it only makes the actual ceiling 1/2" taller, but the space in between the joists draws the ceiling up the 9" or however deep the joists are. This won't work in rooms with too much junk (HVAC, plumbing) hidden in the ceiling, but even if there's just one or two of these you can sometimes pull it off. As a 'decorating' way to draw the ceiling up: the walls on which we have bookcases always seem taller. The vertical lines of the books probably have something to do with that. Doesn't work with chatchkies though. Another thing you might try is to put in a chair rail or wainscoting, but below the normal height. The eye is used to seeing a certain percentage of the wall above one of these treatments, so if you see that amount of wall above the rail then your eye might extrapolate the wall to be taller (I'm guessing here, you probably want to try this with a 2x4 held up to the wall before investing anything).
Well, I hadn't thought of exposing the joists. That might help. I'll have to consult the other half on that one. Psychologically, I think that would raise the ceiling enough to make the rooms more comfortable. It could be really pretty, too. It's kind of a farmhousy place, and that would probably fit right in.
I recently painted my living room ceiling a darker color and was shocked to find just what you said, it does make the ceiling seem higher. I am 6'4" tall and I felt very close to the older light colored ceiling. We also have crown molding painted a different color which again should bring the ceiling down, but it doesn't.
How about some vertical stripes in the wall? Wallpaper is an option, of course, but I've seen on decorating shows where they paint vertical stripes. They could be different colors, but I've also seen where they used the same color except alternated satin finish and flat, which is about as subtle as it gets.
Another vertical window treatment is to have the curtains go all the way to the ceiling. Whoever mentioned lighting was right on IMO, and the subtle stripes of sheen versus flat finish.
Does the sheen vs. flat finish work well on heavily textured walls? I have another thread out about how to smooth out walls that look like moonscape. I might try the paint thing in a smaller room, and I don't actually have curtains yet, so I'll take your advice and set them high.
Oy, the textured walls. I have some of them and keep trying to come up with ways to make them more or less so (by wallpapering or stripping), but stripping just revealed more texture so all things are half done until I regroup beyond molding concepts to "enlarge" some doors and windows.
When I replied I was thinking more for a window fabric than wall but stripes are huge on remodeling shows and you can make them quite wide or even a mix of widths. I've seen ones on a diagonal which brings the eye up to its apex which is particularly effective if it ends at a door or window and can frame it too. Vertical they make a ribbon for photos.
Hanging window treatments from the ceiling or all the way to the floor makes quite a dramatic result in small spaces. I also have a few windows that I leave the top exposed and that seems to expand it with the outdoor daytime vista and the dark of night. When hanging blinds or fabric from the ceiling you can pull them up and completely expose the windows and still have an accent that draws the eye up. If they pull to the sides, add a valence from ceiling to window top for the effect of a complete frame or install a shelf or curio box or piece of art. Until you decide on a fabric for curtains buy some slatted blinds. Depending on how much privacy you need they may be a good interim answer.
As for your question, yes, it "works" but it works differently on different textures so it will always be an experiment. Good luck!
I've read that it helps to install crown molding, then paint a thinner decorative border (or just a line of color) on the ceiling, close to the molding.
It is not an optical illusion; when you look at it directly, your eye isn't fooled for a second. But the rest of the time, you get a feeling that the ceiling is higher because:
(a) the decorative line is thinner than the molding, so your brain registers it as being farther away
(b) the crown molding hides the angle where wall and ceiling meet, so you aren't constantly reminded of the short height of the wall
(c) the decorative line appears to be on the wall, above the molding, instead of on the ceiling.
I don't recall if the line has to be the same color as the molding, but my guess is that it would work best if the line is the same color or just slightly lighter than the molding.
So the crown molding should be the same color as the wall to visually extend the wall? That's interesting...it's a lot like the other suggestion about just painting a 6" border of wall color on the ceiling, but I expect that the crown molding would give a more finished effect, which I like.
Since I have that little wall (and ceiling) texture problem making it extremely difficult to get a smooth line of paint, I wonder, if I took a fairly wide crown molding, painted it the same color as the wall, and installed it on the ceiling, if that wouldn't help do the trick? Combine it with vertical designs and window treatments that reach the ceiling...hey this just might work!!!
I'm on a mission...thanks ALL for the help!!
muddy,
I got my Inspired House a couple of days ago and there are several suggestions for making a low ceiling seem less oppressive in the article on basements. The one I remember off the top of my head is to have sconces which shine light up onto the ceiling. There were others for doing with paint, but I can't remember off hand what they were.
Amy
You know, this is not the first time I've wondered about how to do something (I subscribe to Fine Gardening too) and had the answer magically show up in the next issue.
Good to know Taunton's as on the ball with their new magazine as they are with their old ones!
Muddyfeet
Wonderful! Don't be afraid to NOT commit - that's why you want to sample things first. Exposed beams add height and comfort for me - it's special but not like an impersonal mansion - and can be utilized in any number of ways, such as displaying an artifact, holding "eyes" that allow you to change hanging fabrics, etc.
Can you install a skylight? Cut away selected rafters in just one area? Either way you can make a corner or quadrant of your ceiling as if it's night sky or daylight view with focused lighting. (This would be an artistic task I wouldn't feel confident enough to do on my own without a lot of practice and maybe not even then but I can imagine.)
Lighting or lack thereof can really make a difference, and how do you want to accentuate the illusion? I envy you your project!
On a recent design TV show the host brought down the height of a 10 foot ceiling in a small room by painting the ceiling white down onto the wall about a foot and a half. Perhaps the opposite would work; paint the wall color onto the ceiling in a 6" or so border?
I'm no interior decorator, but I think waynel5 had a good idea. I was thinking along similar lines--a wide crown mold or even a shelf or valance on the walls close to the ceiling; paint it light and the ceiling dark. Possibly use uplights on the shelf or above the valance. Possibly trompe l'oeil or "netting" or very thin lattice painted over the dark ceiling.
I had a small room in a house and put up wallpaper with a black background and a light gold colored lattice. It actually made the room seem bigger, (as I hoped it would)instead of smaller as I had feared it might.
By lattice, you mean something that gives the ceiling less of a "ceiling" feeling and more of an "there's a sky and open air beyond this" feeling? Almost like an indoor arbor? (without the plants).
Interesting thought...I have one room that I think that would work remarkably well in, and that room opens on the garden, so if I do it right I could really have some unification of indoors and outdoors there.
MF
Yup, that's what I meant. Even something lighter than lattice, almost netting, would probably work.
I think Sarah Susanka, in one of her books, shows a house where she used molding at the height of the tops of doors and windows. Below the molding was one color, above it was another color. In the pictures I would have sworn the ceilings were at least 9' tall, but they were only 8. So that might be another possible solution.
Edited 7/31/2004 2:57 pm ET by Danno
In one of my rooms (8ft ceilings) I decided to paint the upper half of the wall, the crown and ceiling a light sky blue. I painted a band of white around the middle and a darker tan around the bottom. Sounds odd, but I wanted to suggest the beach in that room. Very experimental I know. :) My DH says I have watched one too many Trading Spaces episodes. Anyway, the unexpected benefit is that the room feels much much taller now that the crown AND the junction between the wall and ceiling is almost invisable. There is a clear horizon line around the room at chair rail height and everything else is much much lighter. Instead of feeling like the ceiling is the lid of a box holding us in, it almost feels like the ceiling and walls were removed. I love it. So, there's my suggestion! Paint the ceiling your wall color!
Sounds like it would work even better with a cove in place of the crown.
You are absolutely right. I remember seeing that in a book (by Taunton) titled Capes, in their traditional American style series. Richard (Robert?) Norris, an architect in Atlanta mentioned that in a chapter either about his house or in the chapter on his client's house. He said that with 8' ceilings he insists on using Cove molding because it makes the room feel taller. His firm is named Spitzmiller and Norris. All from memory, but that book and those of Susanka deal a lot with these issues. Worth the money to buy the books.
Your room sounds great! I was thinking of the other show with a guy named Tad that comes in with a crew and sledge hammers out entire walls and was going to say at least you didn't do that, so DH should be happy. I don't think they get that rambunctious on Trading Spaces.
Concerning two later postings--Yes, it is well worth investing in Susanka's books. I am trying to get my brother who wants to retire and build a big house to consider her ideas. He's been mildly receptive, only because it costs so much to build the big house he really wants!
"I was thinking of the other show with a guy named Tad that comes in with a crew and sledge hammers out entire walls and was going to say at least you didn't do that, so DH should be happy. I don't think they get that rambunctious on  Trading Spaces."
Now, you really have me giggling this morning. :) The bedroom was supposed to be a tiny project to tide us over ####few years until we rip it all out. We just finished ripping out walls in our family room/kitchen and also in the basement, so we have done plenty of that ourselves. We have a brand new kitchen now, we ripped out everything down to the insulation in the exterior walls, the drywall in the ceiling and ply for the subfloor. That was our main project and about the limit on what we could take at a time.
So... in the end DH is happy, but not because we didn't tear out walls. :)
My old next door neighbor's wife was good at construction--her dad was a contractor. One day while hubby was at work, the wife and her dad tore out a wall in the living room. Husband was pretty surprised when he came home, but learned to accept it!
"Yes, it is well worth investing in Susanka's books. I am trying to get my brother who wants to retire and build a big house to consider her ideas. He's been mildly receptive, only because it costs so much to build the big house he really wants!"
Make sure he reads the book. He might not want such a big house after reading her book. But if he still does, then the big house is really what he wants after all, and it is worth it to know exactly what you want.
I even bought my brother a couple of her books--not too expensive, got them used from Amazon. He said he'd mail them back when he had read them and I said I already had my own copies. He likes two-story spaces and ten foot ceilings. He has planned a room for listening to his sound system that is 34' x 26'. That's almost as big as my whole downstairs, but to each his own. I designed him a nice Craftsman-style house with a two story space in the center with a huge dining/living room with a small "library" mezzanine at one end and a family room mezzaninme at the other. Haven't heard back from him about it and it's been four months. My guess is that he was less than thrilled.
Trying also to convince him to go with in slab radiant hydronic heat. He's worriied about leaks and I can't seem to change his mind that the new PEX is very unlikely to leak. Oh well. He's also a big fan of Noam Chomsky, whereas I tend to like people who's political leanings are slightly to the right of Attila the Hun. (Actually, I'm only assuming that Attila was sort of right wing, seems unlikely that he was a flaming liberal.) ;-)
I love Susanka's books, but you make a good point, and one that's in my mind every time I see them touted - they are not gospel. As an architect I am sure she would be the first to admit that what she proposes isn't strictly for everybody. Some people want a dining room, some people want a formal living room, and some people really do want a sun room. We have a pool table and as such we need a room that is at least 18x16 for that activity (and that is with NO extra space for sitting around). We can't do anything else in that space - it is dedicated to the 1/2 ton behemoth in the center of the room (although we have been known to use it as a massive laundry sorting and folding table). Can we use some of the principles laid forth in her books? Yes. Do we adhere to it religiously? No, and we never will. Right now we have a kitchen that is open to the living room, and while I mostly like it, there are times that I wish I could just pull a door shut and leave it behind. I'd like to be able to prepare something smelly in there without it permeating the entire floor. I'd like to burn the occasional toast without hearing from the smoke alarm in the living room. Yeah, there are ways to do this and keep her aesthetic, but doing it in this house would require an extensive remodel.
So, while I admire her books greatly, and we use every room in our 2300 sqft house, I do think that the principles she puts forth are to be used judiciously, not accepted as the only way to build a house.
Interesting, because I agree with you and yet that is why I do believe that her books and her philosphy are so very fabulous. She advocates analysing every square foot in a house plan and analyzing the daily/monthly use of the rooms of the house. I believe that she would be adamently in support of a room dedicated to a pool table/ theater etc as long as it is a room that is fully used and appreciated by the residents. She certainly has some small houses in her book, but I strongly believe that she doesn't think that we all could or would want that. I think that she is trying to make the argument that just because one person can say that they have a 8,000 square foot house that they don't have a better one than a person with a well planned 2,000 square foot house. I have been in plenty of megga mansions that have entire sections without furniture, either because once the down payment/mortgage are paid there is no money left, or simply because there are rooms that have no imaginable purpose. In her books, she does have chapters devoted to families who really do want the formal dining room, the living room and sun room etc., that other families visit only when they need to dust. I think the most important concept that she brings to the table is the the most luxurious house is a house that is beautifully tailored to the owners daily use in every way possible.
I agree, and I do like her philosophy, but this aesthetic of 'analyzing every sq foot of space' can be taken to the extreme. Every family uses space differently, and what may be the perfect home for one family is unsalable or causes problems in the future. Take my house - There's this little 4x8 space off the living room with windows on one side that the original family placed there so they could have an exercise bike with a view of the mountains. Now that's analyzing every square foot of space to make sure it gets well utilized. Frankly for us this is the corner that collects junk that we don't know where to put it yet (and can hold that junk for years before we decide). I'd have much preferred to use that space up with the staircase that backs against it and have stairs that aren't so steep. One family's ideal solution is another's pain in the keister (oh, how I could use that extra 32 sq feet in a closet!). I realize that 'resale value' is considered an excuse for many evils in a home. However I also believe that homes should be designed so that more than one family will want to live there - otherwise somebody will buy it for the land and tear it down. This goes against 'green' practices for me - reduce, REUSE, recycle.
I guess another thing that shocked me was when I saw on Breaktime that it cost somebody about $400K in construction costs alone (land not included) to build the 'Not So Big House' that is the main focus of the original book. Yeesh. I can't afford her square feet. I'd never, ever, in a million years get a mortgage for that.
" However I also believe that homes should be designed so that more than one family will want to live there - otherwise somebody will buy it for the land and tear it down. This goes against 'green' practices for me - reduce, REUSE, recycle.
I guess another thing that shocked me was when I saw on Breaktime that it cost somebody about $400K in construction costs alone (land not included) to build the 'Not So Big House' that is the main focus of the original book. Yeesh. I can't afford her square feet. "
I agree completely. :)