Open to ideas as to what would provide a creative look for a 12 foot ceiling in a room sized 18′ x 19’4″. As many of us do, we see many mag photo’s yet never find exactly what we are seeking. Currently considering tongue & groove (or is it board & batten?) perhaps somewhat whitewashed, but using what color & process materials? Prefer to use a final poly for ease in future cleaning & to prevent any burring of the wood. Assume this is possible? Also prefer to not beam to eliminate future cleaning efforts nor a trayed ceiling which closes in a room & I prefer more open spaces.
Perhaps t&g may be wrong application but would like something other than sheetrock. Surely some of you builders have worked for homeowners who did not quite know how to describe what they were seeking for a 1 story ranch having 9/12 roofline. Being located on a farm, we do not have to be formal & do what everyone else is doing with the trays, etc.
One 18′ wall will be: 6′ sliding doors leading to covered deck along with 6’x6′ awning window opening to exterior. The other 18′ wall consists of 8′ entrance from main hall (9′) leading thru middle of the house. One 19′ wall will house a 3 piece wall unit, ledgestone covered direct vent 42″ gas fireplace and a wood-finished shelf for future big-screen t.v. Other 19′ wall consists of 5′ opening to kitchen (9′).
Decor will be traditional; room carpeted and leading from tiled floor in kitchen & hall. 2 lighted ceiling fans planned. Focus of room will be the fireplace & perhaps maroon leather sofa (otherwise if OSB, etc. pricing continues) the sofa will have to be what we now own which is dressy green damask..ugh!
Do hope I provided enough detail to give you an idea of layout, etc. And hard to choose between placing this thread in Breaktime or House Chat; just thought builders might better know more about the color & process used!
p.s. Will submit final photo once completed; lack a digital camera at this time.
Replies
Wallpaper!!!
Go to Bradbury & Bradbury, (http://www.bradbury.com/) and find a nice ceiling paper. 12' is a great height to work with, and you have enough surface area to do something really nice.
Thanks for the lead on Bradbury & Bradbury. Believe this may be more expensive than affordable at this time what with building prices now soaring. Plus I do not want to have paper in this new home; overdid our current bedroom too many years ago, cost too much & have had to live with it.
Hopefully this will appeal to another person though. Thanks!
12'-0" high? Paint the ceiling dark to help hide the marks from the badminton shuttlecocks . . . :)
Dark ceiling would also hide that Silly Putty which is not supposed to make a mark. It did on a freshly painted ceiling by a niece who giggled. Hubby did not giggle.
But think I'll pass on the dark though probably should consider as that niece now has a little one of her own.
Your ceiling is too tall for the room's dimension.
Why do you say that?Coming to you from beautiful Richmond, Va.
Please let me know rule for knowing when 12 foot ceiling is too tall for 18' x 19'4" room? I wondered about that. Decreased from 14 foot to 12 foot. Not too late to change height.
How about a shallow barrel vault with t&g? That combination looks great if the trim work blends into the rest of the room and can either add a cozy feeling or a bit of formality depending on your approach.
Cheers, Don
A shallow barrel vault with T&G. Sounds interesting. Believe I am handicapped in that home is being built in a rural area where all the framers are booked solid so we took one who just builds a solid house & is doing an excellent job. Don't know how I could begin to detail what would be expected. And then there would be the electrician who might be scratching his head! No plumbers involved thankgoodness!
I have used t&g on a few ceilings (including my own) that I "whitewashed" to keep a light colored, but not just clearcoated finish.
P116 (a t&g 1x6) is my first choice of wood.
I have used a number of concoctions to achieve a whitewash (the comercially available pickling or white stains were both too pricey and to opaque for my taste).
My first attempt was to thin BIN with denathured alcohol and apply it like a stain and wipe the excess off as I went. Didn't work bad, but I had to keep thinning the mixture as the alcohol would evaporate out.
Next tried thinning oil base paint and wiping it on like stain - somewhat more forgiving but the drying time was eating me alive.
Final incarnation is to use latex paint and thin it aggresivly with Flotrol. Again appling like stain.
Terry
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Sounds like Latex with Flotrol? might be best way to go. Will begin experimenting soon. Had no idea what P116 was. Thanks for including P116 is t&g 1x6.
Wish me luck!
Is the ceiling to be flat or sloped?
You probablyt want t&g not board & batten. Where is the 12 ft mark? At the peak, or at the top of the side walls? I installed what's called car siding down here, 1x6 boards. One side is plain with chamfered edges, the other side has a v-groove down the middle so it looks like 1x3's.
I'm not real good with color, but you could use a semi-transparent white stain, then a coat of poly.
Or you could use engineered flooring, like 5/8" x 3 or 4 or 5" t&g boards. if you get pre-finished, the ceiling will be done when the last board is nailed. But you're limited by the colors available from the mfgr, although I think some do offer a whitewashed look.
This is t&g. The walls are 8 ft, the peak is about 12 ft ...
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"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Edited 9/12/2005 10:35 pm ET by FastEddie
Appreciate your sharing photo...beautiful ceiling. I plan to print a copy if I can i.d. how to do. Also liked the many canned lights & interesting light fixture. I'd be comfortable there!
Thanks again!
Here ya go.
Palladio's Room Proportions: The Harmonic Mean
"We shall therefore borrow all our Rules for the Finishing our Proportions, from the Musicians, who are the greatest Masters of this Sort of Numbers, and from those Things wherein Nature shows herself most excellent and compleat." Leon Battista Alberti (1407-1472)
This is more complicated!
It is derived from the section in Plato's Timeaus which follows on directly after his description of the Lamda (Timeaus, 6) which describes the "composition of the soul".
These links produced intervals of 3/4 and 4/3 and 9/8 within the previous intervals, and he went on to fill all the intervals of 4/3 with the interval 9/8; this left, as a remainder in each, an interval whose terms bore the numerical ratio of 256 to 243. And at that stage the mixture from which these sections were being cut was all used up".
The first part of the clause in italics refers to the Harmonic Mean, the second to the Arithmetic Mean. In other words the Harmonic Mean is the mean exceeding one extreme, and being exceeded by the other, by the same fraction of the extremes.
Palladio uses the example of a room six feet wide by twelve feet long which has a ceiling height of eight feet. The mean, 8, exceeds the smaller extreme, 6, by a third of the smaller extreme; 2, just as it (the mean) is itself exceeded by the same fraction (a third) of the larger extreme, 12, which is 4.
This is expressed as: (8-6) divided by 6 = (12-8) divided by 12,
or, where b is the mean between the two extremes a and c:
(b-a) divided by a = (c-b) divided by c.
Practically, this is found by multiplying the greater and lesser extremes and dividing the result by the Arithmetical Mean found in the first example.
Thus 12 times 6 gives 72, which is then divided by the arithmetical mean, 9, to give the answer 8 which is the harmonic mean; the height of the room.
Another way of doing this, if you don't want to find the Arithmetic Mean first, is to multiply the greater by the lesser, 12 x 6 = 72, then multiply that result by two, 2 x 72 = 144, and then divide that result by the sum of the two extremes (6 and 12):
Thus; 144 divided by (6 + 12), that is, 144 divided by 18 = 8.
This can be remembered by the following formula;
b = 2ac divided by (a+c).
Here is a summary of all three Means:
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And a summary of all three means as applied to Rooms:
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It makes me cringe when people drop an existing 12' ceiling to 8' or 9'. It almost never improves the look/feel of the room and is just a poor choice--most would agree. I'd definately keep your high ceilings.
ditto idon! keep the high ceiling. who cares if it doesn't fit an aesthetic standard; it's unique. a room with high ceilings is good for the soul.
I am not against tall ceilings, when good design principles are used. But scale, setting, window and door treatments, placing, sizing, all need to come into play.
Consider the house built with 10 feet of clear between floors, and then finished with undropped ceilings in the narrow passageways, small rooms, closets, etc. Being in a small powder room with even a 9-foot ceiling makes for a "pit and the pendulum" feel.
I might consider using the interior height available to advantage, for the room in question here. A dropped perimeter, creating a center vault, dressed with trim and indirect cove lighting, can add serious drama.
Stinger,
Do you ever show PC's this stuff? I am curious to know what they think or have said to you about it? Most guys come in & throw a number out there not knowing why. You have supplied us all with actual mathematic equations backing your theory up. Impressive.
What's a PC? Potential client?
PC (Potential Customer).
Sorry, I abbreviate things a lot.