Ideas to Steal From The World’s Most Beautiful Ceilings

If you enjoy decorating, you’ve probably spent some time thinking about what to put on the walls, and the floor — but what about the ceiling? A room has six sides, and this sixth one often goes unnoticed. Which is a pity, because the right ceiling can really make a room. With some great ceiling details, you can turn a boring room into one that’s bursting with architectural character. Here are a few ideas.

I love a good ceiling medallion — it’s an easy (and inexpensive) way to make a light fixture stand out and add character to a room. In this photo from Elle Decoration, a ceiling medallion and a sculpted crown molding are all it takes to add architectural interest to a space.

Sometimes a big space calls for a big ceiling medallion, like this one in a home from French by Design. This is actually in a kids’ room — I love the idea of creating a grand look for a little person’s space.

For an especially dramatic look, try a ceiling medallion combined with another ring of molding, as seen on Est Magazine.

Painting your ceiling is doubly dramatic when you combine that with a beautifully detailed crown molding, like in this example from Wrede, via Lark & Linen. Paint the molding, too, for the best effect.

To make a tall space seem cozier, you can visually bring down the ceiling by adding a molding a few feet below the place where the ceiling meets the walls and painting everything above. In this bedroom from Light Locations, a yellow ceiling adds warmth and cheer to the whole room.

A second molding, running just inside the first, can really enhance the look of a space, as in this colorfully painted living room from House & Garden.

Here’s the same effect in a cozy living room from Lonny. The crown mold here is composed of what look like multiple pieces, including a cove mold in the middle. Painting the molding white helps it to stand out from the dark walls, and the red painted ceiling takes on a coffered effect.

This dining room ceiling, with the panels created by molding along the edges, is beautiful intricate, but would be fairly easy to re-create at home. Image by Florian Braun for Freistil Rolf Benz.

This ceiling, in a space by Luis Laplace, is by far the most elaborate of all these examples — but even this could be re-created with a little picture molding, affixed in a diamond pattern to the ceiling. The only limit, really, is your imagination.