Design Dilemma: Vaulted Ceilings
I have a design dilemma. I can’t STAND my vaulted ceilings. When we built our house, my 6’4″ husband felt like he just had to have them, and I didn’t have a problem with it, so we put in vaulted ceilings. Of course, now that we have been living in our house for about 6 years, we both know that we would never put in vaulted ceilings again. 10 foot ceilings? Yes. Vaulted ceilings? No.
Why do I hate them? Because it is SO hard to make a room feel cozy with vaulted ceilings!! Never mind the fact that you are heating that space in the winter, so it gets cold. PLUS, when a lot of people fill the room, the ceilings make everything LOUD and echoey.
But, the real dilemma is, where do you paint? I’m not about to build myself some scaffolding so I can go all the way up to the ceiling. NOT gonna do it. I don’t care what you say.
To my way of thinking, that leaves me with two options. I need your input.
Here is the room before. Ignore the oversized but-never-gonna-be-able-to-afford-a-new couch and chair. I plan on buying a real entertainment stand sometime before the end of the year and putting the table behind the couch. Plus, Mitch is finally on board with drilling a hole in the wall behind the massive-life-sucking-black-hole of a television (and, ironically, we don’t watch “television” in our home except DVDs or VHS).
I’m pretty much sold on painting the walls the same color as the fireplace wall. I watched a movie recently and all of the walls in the house were painted in rich, dark colors and I just loved it. So, don’t try to convince me to paint a pale blue or green. Well, okay, if you feel STRONGLY about trying to convince me, I’ll listen to your arguments with an open mind, but ladies, I WANT COLOR. Look at this room. Neutral. Need I say more?
So, I figure these are my options.
Chair Rail Kinda Sorta - I would use a piece of MDF without the fancy “trim work” grooves. Sort of simple and classic. It would probably be 3-5 inches wide and it would be in line with our fireplace mantle and circle the room. SO, yes, it would cut through the TV and mirror and pictures. I would probably have to get creative about rehanging the pictures, but I’m not too concerned.
The Crown Molding Kinda Sorta – I would use the same non-fancy MDF (just picture a flat, smooth 2×4, except more like 2×5, hopefully) and line it up with the top of the plant shelf thingy.
What do you think? Which one should I do??
PS – I realize I have “perspective” issues on these photos! Makes me giggle!
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I would do the crown mouldings and not the chair rail. I think the chair rail makes the room choppy, if that makes sense. The crown moulding make the ceilings their own space and defines the room. JMIO.
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or you could put in a suspended ceiling… no more echos… no more heat loss…
if the wall (with the mirror on really does have a space above it build it up a little and still have higher ceilings without the echos and heat loss…
Having lived in a home with 12 foot stud ceilings the heating issue is NOT fun! and it echos still too!
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I had the same problem in our house in Florida – IMHO the crown option is MUCH better than chair rail. The chair rail only makes the upper space seem BIGGER, while the crown emphasizes the cozy living space below it.
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and yeah I realise it costs more but the savings you make NOT heating the huge non useable space is much nicer in the long run…
We now live in an old home with 8 foot high ceilings and even my 6 foot 6 brother doesn’t feel like he is gonna scraping the ceiling every time he visits!
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UP! The chair rail only divides the room yet again in my opinion.
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Go with the height of the second one. The first is WAY too choppy. But you already knew what I thought about the subject
As for colors, I would go rich, but doing a primary color, even muted will limit your decorating in the future. And you don’t want to be painting every few years when you fall for a new color scheme… or is that just me?
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Kelleigh Reply:
September 1st, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Alysun, you were the first to give me that idea of lining it up with the shelf. Seems to be a popular idea!
Okay, so what color would you do? Rich, but not primary?? What?
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Alysun Reply:
September 2nd, 2010 at 9:03 am
I would keep your contrast to a minimum. More contrast = more visual choppiness. Kathy Galligher told me that. So, since you don’t want to paint above the crown, make your new paint color a similar color only richer, but still mid tone. I did this trick in my living room and am very happy with the results. Then I can change out my pillows and accessories very guilt free. Plus, the room is relaxing. I love it. White moldings with a wood floor and a midtone to bring it all together (it’s a green-ish taupe).
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I’m all about the more color, the better – go with the molding.
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I like the second choice better.
Can’t wait to see what you do!
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Like the second one – a lot more color and doesn’t chop the room up so bad…can’t wait to see the final result that you choose
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I like the second pic with the chair rail. The darker the color on your paint the cozier it will feel. Good luck!
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Crown molding, not the chair rail! FOR SURE!
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I like the version that’s lined up with the plant shelf thingy.
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I like the second option alot!! I agree with your friend Alysun and I’d do just a richer tone of the upper paint colour. It would flow much better. Don’t get me wrong….I’m all about colour and have a 10′ x 4′ GREEN kitchen island. And I don’t mean light green. Think “bright moss”. We just renovated and that was not negotiable to me. Love it. My paint colour is an extremely light grey but I hope to pop in some splashes of colour with pillows, table runners etc.
Can’t wait to see what you do!
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I don’t usually comment, but I had to for this one. Definitely crown molding!
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I just found your blog and am already giving my two cents!!
Go with the crown molding!! What program did you use to digitally change your room!!??
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Kelleigh Reply:
September 9th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Thanks for your input, Shannon! We’ve pretty much decided to go with the crown, but now I have a paint dilemma. ARGH!!
I used Photoshop to add the color! BAD job, but at least we get a visual!
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