5 TIPS for Low Ceilings

This post should be titled

Low Ceilings-High Hopes.

Isn’t that the way we all feel when we begin a journey with a home?

We have high hopes for its presence and shelter in our lives.

Looking back I have always preferred the fixer-upper, the misunderstood, the ‘seen better days’ kind of house.

Those homes usually have low ceilings.

If low ceilings in your home are making you feel like there is something wrong with that home, I think these 

solutions that I have used for years might help.

1.  Ignore them .

It really is that simple.

Unless you are literally going to ‘raise the roof’, what are the options?

The beauty of a home is about so much more than its ceilings.

It is about the honor in living in a home you can afford to buy- low ceilings or not.

It is about the old adage of ‘dance with who brought you’.

I have learned over the years that when house problems surface and budgets are small,

creativity and acceptance save the day.

2. Bring the eye up.

You are not trying to fool anyone by doing this.

In fact, you will be embracing the fact that your ceilings don’t soar.

I love that the Mexican cabinet (in the photo above)almost touches the ceiling.

It is as if to say, my house can handle this huge piece of furniture and look good to the eye of the beholder

all at the same time.

3.  Use crown moulding.

When we remodeled our home many years ago, crown moulding was an expense

I couldn’t justify.

My mother warned me at the time that it is when you are doing big work on a house

that it is best to include smaller projects too- as in adding moulding .

It just wasn’t possible at the time, so we slowly added it several rooms at a time.

It almost seems counter intuitive, right?

Wouldn’t crown moulding make the ceiling look even lower?

I don’t believe that.

I believe it makes the ceiling look important.

4. Paint the doors and moulding white.

Painting the trim white creates a boundary that the room needs- otherwise

a low ceilinged room looks like an opened box.

White may not be your choice, but there is no color more forgiving and inspiring

in an older home than white crown moulding and white baseboards.

5.  Add large mirrors .

Light needs to move and reflect in a room with lower

ceilings , and there is nothing that does that better than mirrors.

These mirrors need to be large-

the grander the scale the better.

In order for mirrors to fulfill their purpose, I think they need to be hung at a logical

height.

What does that mean? You need to be able to look in that mirror.

Always remember-

your home is lovely, and it is yours, and it says who you are.

Embrace that .

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