Just fifteen or twenty years ago, when starting a renovation, you would not have given ceiling design a second's thought. A ceiling had to be covered with a neat, even layer of whitewash. But times have changed: today no less attention is paid to the design of the ceiling than to the design of the room.
A ceiling can completely transform an interior with its color scheme, allows you to zone a space, and helps draw attention to certain elements of the design. So, for your renovation to have a finished look, to please the eye, to create a complete feeling of comfort — and to make your neighbors envious — you will have to think about ceiling design.
There are several ways to design a ceiling; below we describe them in order of increasing cost and complexity of the work.
The simplest (though the messiest) option is painting or whitewashing the ceiling. If you decide to settle on this, remember: 1) this work must be done at the initial stage, before the walls and floor are renovated; 2) the ceiling must be perfectly even, otherwise all its flaws will catch the eye. And although this type of ceiling design may seem boring to most people, that is far from true. When painting, the color of the ceiling can echo certain elements of the interior: the color of the doors, walls, curtains, or even a favorite little vase (who knows what your designer imagination is capable of). You can divide the ceiling into zones painted in different colors; the same can be done with whitewash, slightly tinting it.
The next method of ceiling design is self-adhesive ceilings. These are small (50×50 mm or 60×60 mm), lightweight (because made of foam) square tiles. They are glued to a cleaned ceiling with a special adhesive, which usually comes included (if there is no adhesive, you can use any other, but remember: gluing with "liquid nails", "Moment", or "epoxy adhesive" is strictly forbidden). The design options for self-adhesive ceilings are varied. The foam tiles come in all kinds of textures, patterns, and colors. And their uniform size will let you combine tiles with different designs in your ceiling.
A slightly more complicated way of designing a ceiling is covering it with wallpaper. It is more difficult only because wallpaper, unlike foam tiles, is larger in size and less durable, and gluing it yourself without any skill is quite hard. Otherwise the picture is similar: textures, colors, quality. The main thing to remember: do not cover the ceiling with overly bright wallpaper, or wallpaper with a large repeating pattern.
The next ceiling design option is a suspended drywall ceiling. Sometimes this method is used only to level the ceiling, but when working with drywall it is quite hard to resist the desire to experiment with the shape of the ceiling. Besides creating incredible geometric compositions on the ceiling, it opens up unprecedented possibilities for placing light fixtures: they can be positioned along the perimeter, hidden from sight between the ceiling levels, or arranged completely asymmetrically. Creating the shape is only half the job. Drywall is easy to finish: it can be painted, covered with wallpaper, or with decorative cork (or other) panels. Many believe that drywall is a light, pliable material to work with and that they can handle it themselves, but we would advise you to enlist the help of professionals to avoid trouble with shaping and installation, which result in having to buy new material.
Slat and panel ceilings are more often used for ceiling design in bathrooms, toilets, offices, shops, and so on. Slat ceilings are slats up to 4 m long and 85 mm wide, usually available in white, silver, or gold. Panel ceilings are suspended structures consisting of slats and tiles sized 60×60 mm or 62×62 mm. These tiles are usually white, but they can easily be repainted in any color you need. These ceilings are also quite difficult to install on your own.
And the most expensive — but also the most distinctive in design — are stretch ceilings. This is a structure made of a frame positioned along the perimeter and a polymer PVC-based film stretched over it. The frame is modeled to the dimensions of the room in which the ceiling is installed. Incidentally, the polymer film withstands loads of up to 200 kg per square meter (the risk of being flooded by upstairs neighbors in your freshly renovated apartment drops sharply). As for the actual ceiling design, the horizons that open up are vast. There are more than a hundred color and texture options: leather, marble, linen looks, glossy, matte, and so on. Lately, photographs and reproductions of famous paintings have also been printed on the film (as custom orders). In short, whatever your heart desires. But you cannot install a stretch ceiling yourself — special equipment is required for that.
These are the possible ways to design a ceiling. Your choice, as always, depends on your taste, preferences, and means. But if you do decide to forgo the layer of whitewash, the specialists of our company will help you draw up a design for your future ceiling and will carry out the installation work quickly and with quality.
Ceiling design — professional tips
Ceiling design gives a room a special style. It emphasizes its character and individuality. Ceilings can look truly spectacular, and this part of the work on creating an interior is not all that expensive. There are quite a few subtleties here, so let us listen to the advice of professionals.
If you choose a ceiling color close to the color of the walls but slightly lighter, your room will look more spacious.
You can give the ceiling a metallic tint — then the architectural details will "come alive" and the ceiling will sparkle.
A ceiling covered with light lacquer will reflect and diffuse the light.
A wooden lattice looks good on a green or aquamarine ceiling.
You can make the ceiling glossy — this creates a certain intrigue.
If you are fond of nature, turn your ceiling into a "sky" — with clouds, or a ceiling with stars.
If you use dark tones, the ceiling will seem to "disappear".
A pale blue or pale pink ceiling will imitate the color of the sky at sunset.
Depending on your wish, the ceiling will look higher or lower if you paint it in a color different from that of the walls.
Add elements of painting — this will enliven both the ceiling and the whole room.
Paint the ceiling light blue, leaving the relief details white — the result will be an illusion of the sky.
If the ceiling is wooden, leave it its natural color to avoid the feeling that it is closing in over you.
In the center of the ceiling, you can highlight another color with a dotted line — this will create a sense of spatial depth.
You can cover the ceiling with golden or silver wallpaper and adorn it with gold or silver foliage.
You can paint the ceiling the same color as the walls, but separate them with a relief molding.
The color of the ceiling should reflect and complement the color of the floor — interaction matters here.
The ceiling of a country house looks good painted in a greenish-blue speckle on a white background.
The best choice is white, but try to make sure that the color of the walls, combined with the white ceiling, creates a feeling of warmth and comfort. If there are wooden panels on the walls, the space above them should be painted the same color as the ceiling.
