If you dream of living in a home with soaring, ten-foot ceilings you’re not alone. Who isn’t inclined to want all of that extra space, or the perception of that space? Do you know that you can achieve the expansiveness of high ceilings without lifting a hammer?
According to interior designer Emily Hall, an easy and inexpensive way to make a ceiling appear taller is to use drapery and curtains strategically. “Hanging curtains as high as you can makes your ceilings appear taller because they’re drawing the eye up,” she says. “Sometimes we even hang the drapery hardware from the ceiling, which is one of my favorite things to do even in a room with tall ceilings.”
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Another thought, adds Hall, is to choose fabric, wallpaper, and trim designs with vertical lines to give the illusion of height.
Stephanie Pohlman, of Stephanie Pohlman Designs, uses millwork and wainscoting to create walls with vertical texture. “We’ll add a wainscoting with two sections–the bottom part is ⅓ of the wall and the other is the top ⅔ of the wall,” she says. “We also lay vertical shiplap or tongue-and-groove for visual effect in a den, office, foyer, or bedroom–mostly because these areas have a good stopping point and are not open-concept spaces where one room bleeds into the other.”
Lighting also plays a role. Opt for vertical sconces and recessed lighting and avoid statement-making, low-hanging lights. If you’re using a tall floor lamp, place it on the outer edge of the room, keeping an open line of sight in the center of the room, says Pohlman.
Both Hall and Pohlman like the idea of playing with contrast and scale. Pohlman selects low-profile furniture and, to create contrast, adds a tall tree or floor lamp. “The varying heights give the illusion that there is more space in a room and that the ceiling is taller,” says Pohlman. Similarly, Hall starts with low-slung furniture and will then source a china cabinet that reaches almost to the ceiling and/or adds large-scale works of art. “That difference in height among objects in a room makes the ceilings feel taller,” she says.
And while conventional wisdom posits that rooms painted in a light share generally appear larger and higher, Hall says that’s not always the case. For her, the secret is to paint the entire room the same color—including the trim, walls, windows, and ceiling—whether it’s a chocolate brown or an off-white shade. The consistency across surfaces makes the room feel larger and ceilings appear higher.
