The Fifth Wall

Dressing Ceilings to Dazzle

By Laurie L. Dove

It's an interesting paradox: Room redesigns often ignore ceiling space, yet ceilings are the first place to draw the eye.

For these forgotten spaces, once relinquished to a perfunctory shade of eggshell white, there is a new coming of age. Drab and dreary have been vanquished; color and texture have taken their place.

A tired ceiling can absorb all the warmth and charm of a well-decorated room or it can deepen the effect and add a layer of emotion. "The eye is always drawn to the lightest thing in the room, and often, that's the ceiling," says Vicki Flores, an interior designer in Wichita, Kan. "When they decorate, people are concerned with carpet and fabrics, but then leave a white ceiling. That's a big mistake. You have to think of the ceiling as the fifth wall of the room."

While walls are now sporting paints of deliciously named hues persimmon, mango, even sugar cookie ceilings don't have to be simple variations of white. Ceilings are perfect candidates for faux painting techniques or unique wall coverings. The key is to continue the color of the walls onto the ceiling, Flores says, with a color of the same hue. "The ceiling color may be a shade lighter than the wall color, but continue the trend," she says.

Another option is to add an English wall covering, known as anaglyptic, to the ceiling. The heavy, embossed paper applies to the ceiling using much the same process as affixing wall coverings to walls. The designs include replications of 12-inch squares of tin ceilings or other faux printing techniques, and like most things faux, are more inexpensive than the real deal. Once applied and thoroughly dried, the ceiling coverings can be painted with a variety of faux finishing techniques, from a metallic paint with subtle highlighting to reflect an antiqued tin ceiling look to layers of paint and glaze to match a room's walls.

And now that many ceilings in new homes are featuring 15-foot or higher ceilings, the difficult-to-decorate spaces can be part of a dramatic decorating trend. Wall coverings sporting deep reds and golds, or other colors that would overwhelm small spaces, can safely be applied on high ceilings to add character and a little romance.

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