Design tricks that will help visually raise the low ceiling.
In the article, we tell how to visually increase the height of the ceiling using various techniques. To implement some of them, it is enough to make small changes in the room and add new decor. Other methods will require more laborious work. But any of these tips will help transform your apartment or house for the better, and photos will inspire design achievements. First, let’s talk about what not to do.
Finishes that will exacerbate the problems of low spaces
There are several design options, which in this case will only spoil the overall picture.
- Multi-tier suspended tension structures.
- Dark or light beige shade.
- Gypsum stucco, wide baguettes with ornaments.
- Large chandeliers, especially those suspended from chains.
- Carpet with long pile. It visually raises the floor – which reduces the overall height.
- Strong color contrast with the walls.
All this looks bad even in rooms with walls of 2.5 meters and such a design is best avoided unless you live in a large house.
How to visually make the ceiling higher in an apartment or a private house
Let’s start with simple ideas – the choice of furnishings, decor, and finishes.
Furniture
Give preference to understated furniture. This applies to everything: cabinets, sofas, armchairs, and tables. The exception is wardrobes with mirrored doors. Visually, they make the space wider and taller. One or two narrow storage systems are acceptable, the last shelves of which are located very high. If a room designed in this way has large windows, it is filled with light and volume as much as possible. Instead of mezzanines, arrange small shelves right under the ceiling.
The best color options: are white, beige, milky, gray, light green, blue, lilac, and pale yellow. Transparent tables and chairs visually save a small area.
In the kitchen, you can choose two-color models – while the lower part should be dark. The combination will add graphics to the interior. Glossy headset doors are another working design technique. Pay attention to accessories. You want vertical, concise details.
Decor
Remove all unnecessary things from the windows and hang long, floor-length curtains on a hidden string cornice. The pattern on them, especially the vertical one, also visually stretches the room. But if a beautiful view of the street opens from the house, it is better to find minimalistic, translucent curtains that do not distract attention.
On the walls, you can hang modular vertical paintings, framed photos, and hand-made collages. Place them in any of three ways: one picture above another, all at eye level (if there aren’t many), high above the floor. Other decor – vases, collectible souvenirs, arrange on hanging shelves or on a narrow, open rack. This rule also applies to books.
The main task is to remove or minimize all horizontal objects and design elements. The heap of details is contraindicated. The fewer things in a small room, the better. Try to decorate your home with elegant, elongated accessories and mirrors.
Color and pattern in the interior
A fairly simple way to help visually enlarge the ceiling. The most common technique is wallpaper with vertical stripes. It can be not just lines, but also various prints. The only requirement is that they still have to be minimalistic. Soft, PVC, wooden panels with the appropriate pattern and shape work in the same way.
Drawing options
- Make a diagonal stripe on the surface. Paint it in two colors or combine two finishing materials. Another option is to imitate a staircase, under which open shelves for books and things are made.
- Use the same or very similar colors on all surfaces except the floor. Suitable milky, white, creamy, light gray, pale green, and pastel yellow. They merge into one and the gaze is not fixed on the border.
- If you choose a contrasting color for the walls, paint over a small area of the ceiling with it. Plinth will help to decorate it beautifully. Don’t make it too wide.
- Add wallpaper without indentation to the very top.
- Are there beams in the interior? Make them darker than the base. This will give a sense of volume and height.
- In a cramped room, try to combine two types of finishes. From below, install wooden or plastic panels or tile this part. Above – ordinary wallpaper or decorative plaster. Over a large area, this can work against you.
Rooms are successfully complemented by mirror designs. Due to the reflection of the flooring, the space becomes larger. This method will require serious costs. The budget option is a mirror edging glued to the joint with the wall around the perimeter. To create the effect, use self-adhesive PVC tape.
Lighting
We will tell you how to visually increase the height of the ceiling using lighting design techniques.
Chandelier
Compact Japanese-style appliances and plates look good. Large models may be an exception if hung over a table. Mounting bulky structures over sofas, beds, and armchairs is not recommended for safety reasons. It is desirable that the lampshades of the chandelier are directed upwards.
Cornice lighting
LED strips and lamps are embedded around the perimeter of the room in a drywall box. They create the effect of a floating structure.
Mortise and overhead lamps
No one can touch them with a hand or head, less dust accumulates on them, and they do not eat up space. Choose spots with a small vertical leg and a long horizontal one.
Hidden light
Rectangular or square luminous hole in suspended drywall. It turns out that an unusual effect of lighting located above the main coating. Use acrylic glass for insertion.
Lampshades and lamps
Located on the floor, but directed upwards. Create a cozy atmosphere, and increase the height.
Remember that compact equipment frees up space for the eye and is therefore preferable in the design of small rooms. This is where the simple design tricks end. Next, we will tell you how to visually raise the ceiling in more time-consuming ways.
Doors
Raise them to the maximum level. This design looks unusual, but it does its job. You can leave the opening without a door or install a sliding structure, a minimalist plasterboard arch, or complete a glazed transom. This will generally increase the space.
Window
If you have the opportunity, install large windows throughout the wall or make elongated openings. So the maximum amount of light will enter the room.
Changing the construction and design of the floor
In the apartment, the upper part of the floor can be made of boards. If you remove them, the room will become higher. But this approach is often not justified. First, such works need to be coordinated. Secondly, you still have to find a replacement, as sound and heat insulation will suffer. But in a private wooden house, it is easier to lower the floor level – if there is a high, solid foundation. As a result, this will give 20-25 cm of additional space.
How to lower the level of the floor
- The old coating is removed with a crowbar with a nail puller.
- Remove logs with a saw.
- Close up holes in the walls.
- Install new logs, thermal insulation (mineral wool), and topcoat.
Techniques that work in any room
- Shiny, reflective surface. The easiest way to create it is with epoxy potting. In another way, it is called liquid linoleum. In addition to it, tiles, and porcelain stoneware is suitable.
- Bright, eye-catching carpets with a short pile. They take your eyes off the walls.
- The color of the paint may well be in contrast with the rest of the interior. For example, light walls are well complemented by a dark brown or graphite shade.
In order to change only the visual perception, the last three tricks are enough.
Tension, suspension structures, and beams
A multi-tiered design eats up too much space, but a narrow cornice around the perimeter of the room is quite appropriate. It raises the low ceiling and it is in it that you can embed the LED strip. Two more tips:
- Choose glossy material. Even with an ordinary chandelier, he will make the apartment taller. Sometimes it is better to refuse it in the bedroom. If there are bright lamps, the light will blind.
- Remove trim. Without a stretch fabric or hemmed drywall, the height of the walls increases by at least 10 cm. And if you cover the base with white paint and use the techniques from the article, everything will become even better.
It seems that the beams reduce the height, but in some interiors, they can visually increase it. In houses and apartments decorated in the style of Provence, chalets, and rustic, light beams of small height will fit into the design and raise the roof and base.
Conclusions
In housing with low ceilings are contraindicated:
- Medium-sized furniture. It should be either low or very high.
- Strong contrast with walls.
- Horizontal objects and details in the design.
- Bulky decor items and chandeliers.
Glossy materials, minimalism, spotlights, narrow cornices, beams, mirrors, bright prints on the floor, light, and cold shades will help fix the interior.
In conclusion, we add that using only one method is usually inefficient. Try to implement all the options that are suitable for your apartment in order to achieve the best result.
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