Break Up a Bland Ceiling the Modern Way
All too often the ceilings of modern interiors are treated in one
way: flat drywall. This treatment may coincide with a focus on minimalism,
but it can also be seen as unimaginative. Crown moldings and other
decorative features don't work in modern interiors, so this ideabook
highlights other means of modifying painted drywall ceilings.
The following examples fall into four broad categories: cutting, materials, layering and stepping. The first involves openings in ceilings; the next highlights other materials adjacent to drywall; the third deals with multiple ceiling planes; and the last involves different ceiling heights across a space. These modifications show how ceilings can be enlivened without departing from modern style and simplicity.
The following examples fall into four broad categories: cutting, materials, layering and stepping. The first involves openings in ceilings; the next highlights other materials adjacent to drywall; the third deals with multiple ceiling planes; and the last involves different ceiling heights across a space. These modifications show how ceilings can be enlivened without departing from modern style and simplicity.
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Cutting
This simple, white drywall ceiling is broken up over the kitchen by an opening to the floor above. To its left we can see the stair heading up. The wood in these openings echoes that in the kitchen counter below. |
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Another view of the space shows the stairs next to the kitchen, echoed directly outside. Let's take a look upstairs ...
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The white drywall from downstairs
gives way to lots of wood. If this space had been treated with the same
surfaces as the living area below it, the opening above the kitchen
would not have the strong contrast that pulls the eye — and body — to
the second floor.
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This bedroom has an unusual
feature, a skylight above the headboard. The light it adds to the room
is tangible, and it breaks up an otherwise plain-Jane white ceiling.
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by emily jagoda
by emily jagoda
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Materials
White drywall and plywood top this living space. The latter goes a long way to break up the space and to link the overhead plane to the wood wall at right. |
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In this bedroom, wood walls run
along the sides while a taller white ceiling with boxed-out beams makes
up the center portion over the bed. The design is like an inversion of
an exposed wood structure with white drywall below it.
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Layering
A bold yellow ceiling juts out from below the usual white drywall in this kitchen. A slot in the yellow surface receives the pendant lights hanging over the island.
A bold yellow ceiling juts out from below the usual white drywall in this kitchen. A slot in the yellow surface receives the pendant lights hanging over the island.
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A view from above shows how the
ceiling extends past the mezzanine's glass guardrail. It's a unique
touch, if another surface to dust.
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This kitchen uses a similar
tactic, but here it is rendered in another color and material and
receives an exhaust hood. The ceiling gives some intimacy to the kitchen
and seating area at the island, while also housing the flue; otherwise
the latter would enter oddly into the drywall ceiling.
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Stepping
Different heights can also work toward breaking up drywall ceilings. As in the previous example, the lower ceiling gives intimacy to this kitchen, but the living area has more breathing room. |
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Looking from the living area to the kitchen, you can (barely) see
another use of the stepped ceiling in the top right corner. A diffuser
shows that the air supply can be put into the vertical surfaces, leaving
the ceiling free of grilles.
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Stepping/Layering
Here is a living area with a stepped ceiling much like the previous example. Yet the band of light on the wall at right hints at the layering that is going on as well. |
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The low ceiling at right — seen
from the opposite direction of the previous photo — reveals the
clerestory windows that sit between the two ceiling planes. These high windows help bring in natural light even when the blinds are closed for privacy.
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