Interior Design Q&A: Effectively Hiding Ceiling Beams

Ceiling beams – sometimes you want to see them, and sometimes you don’t.  Here’s how to make them “disappear” without restructuring your building!

Q. 

I have a lot of beams in my sitting and dining area. The beams in my sitting room criss cross at almost the centre dividing the ceiling into 4 sections. As for the dining room, there is a beam that runs across the length of it directly over the dining table area. What suggestions would you have for camouflaging the beams, make the ceiling look higher, more “connected” and seamless?

A. 

To effectively camouflage the beams, you might first consider painting them the same color as your ceiling. If you have crown molding and you paint the crown molding and ceiling the same color (different from the wall color) the room will appear visually higher. To make the room appear higher, one option to consider is painting your crown molding (if you have this) and ceiling the same color (different from the wall color). If you do not have crown molding, another option could be to paint the walls and ceiling (and beams) the same color. This should also add visual height to your room. Another option to make the ceiling look higher is to have your window treatments hang from ceiling to floor. Place the drapery rod half the distance between the ceiling and the top of the window and have the draperies fall 1/2″ from the floor. Finally, regarding making the room(s) appear more seamless, you will want to consider one rule of thumb: The less “breaks” you have in the color, the more “connected” the area will look. For further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at (717) 249-7052. Thank you!

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