Ceiling issues...Please Help?
Question:I am fixing up an old house and have a few questions about the ceilings. May main concern is for the open livingroom /kitchen area. 1. What size molding is appropriate in rooms with low ceilings. I like the big stuff but I only see it in higher rooms. I want the room to appear larger.
2. Will recessed lighting highlight flaws in the ceiling? The ceilings are smooth but uneven in places. Any help would be appreciated.
Answers:
Shaggy,
If your ceilings are low, you do not want to draw attention to that negative feature. Use a smaller molding or none. A larger molding will make the ceiling appear lower. You do not want your eyes to travel upward by creating an architectural feature.
The recessed lighting is a good idea. They will not highlight flaws rather fade away into the ceiling. A drop ceiling fixture would draw your eye up again and accentuate it. You are fortunate to have smooth ceilings. Good luck and take your time.
y dont u hire sumone to do it 4 u that would be the smartest thing to do
in my old home I used white wallpaper which looks like ceiling tin on the ceiling. I left it white but it can be painted silver like tin. White or silver makes the room look airy and bigger.
If you want the room to appear bigger, try taping the corners instead of trim (if it is drywall). Otherwise, smaller trim. If you want the bigger trim, try painting it a light color. We did that for one of our customers. They had dark stained trim. We sprayed Bullseye Benz on it and then painted it to match the walls. Looked great!
As far as the light, yes it will show flaws. Especially if the ceilings are glossy. But then again, pretty much any lighting will show it. That's why I prefer stomped ceilings.
With 8' ceilings, 3 1/2" moldings will be okay, if you want them to be a little more important, you can go up to 4 1/2". (The crown moldings and base moldings should be roughly the same size, so if you aren't changing the base moldings, take your size cue from there.)
If you are using a light wall color (including light pastels,) take the ceiling color onto the walls full strength. (This will make the ceiling visually disappear.)
If you are using a mid-tone color on the walls, cut it in half with white base for the ceiling. Since light tends to not shine on the ceiling, it can look slightly darker than the walls. Cutting it in half helps to compensate.
If you are using a dark color on the walls, use a pastel with a tint of the wall color on the ceiling.
If you are trying to make an exceptionally low ceiling look higher, paint the wall color onto the ceiling 4"-6", then add a small piece of wood trim--1" -2" wide. Then paint the ceiling the wall color cut in half or a pastel tinted with the wall color. (This means you will need to leave off the crown molding.) When people look into the room, they expect the color change to be at the ceiling line. So the ceiling "frame" makes the walls appear to be higher.
Recessed lighting won't highlight flaws in the ceiling, but you can minimize the visual impact. Unless you ask for an alternative, the lights will come with black baffles--the ribbed collar inside the fixture. They are available in white, silver and gold. If you use the white or the silver, you won't see a dark "hole" in the ceiling when the lights are turned off. Too, if the ceiling paint is a color, use the same color to paint the 1/2" lip of the trim kit. (That's the lip that overlaps the hole and hides the raw edges of the ceiling.) Doing this will make the light seem 20% smaller in the ceiling.
Since the ceiling isn't perfect, use flat paint, it is the most forgiving finish. If the walls are in good shape, use an eggshell finish on them. It's a little more luxurious than flat and it will stand up to cleaning a little better than flat.
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