Imagine entering a room where the boundaries soar and the sky seems within reach. High-ceiling rooms, an architectural luxury, embody grandeur and an open canvas of design possibilities. As someone with a knack for transforming spaces, I understand the complexity and creative potential these vast vertical planes present.
Through this article, you’ll unlock the secrets to decorating ideas that are both aesthetically pleasing and functional.
Learn to master the art of scale, embrace the power of statement lighting, and discover how large artwork can anchor a space. Captivate with tall, flowing drapes, and see how a strategically placed mirror can play with light and space.
By the end, you’ll grasp how to create an enchanting atmosphere that celebrates the full potential of your lofty interiors.
Get ready to turn that airy volume into a symphony of style where luxury, elegance, and coziness coexist.
High Ceiling Rooms Decorating Ideas
| Room Element | Idea/Style | Decorating Tip | Suggested Materials | Ideal for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceiling | Painted ceiling | Select a bold or dark color to make the high ceiling more dramatic. | High-quality paint | Living rooms, Libraries |
| Lighting | Statement chandelier | Choose an oversized chandelier that complements the room’s scale. | Crystal, Metal, Glass | Dining rooms, Foyers |
| Wall Decor | Vertical artwork | Use tall, vertical pieces to draw the eye upwards. | Canvas, Metal, Wood | Halls, Bedrooms |
| Window Treatments | Long draperies | Hang curtains from the ceiling to the floor to emphasize height. | Velvet, Linen, Silk | Any room with tall windows |
| Furniture | High-back chairs | Incorporate furniture that balances the room’s verticality. | Wood, Leather | Offices, Reading nooks |
How to decorate high ceilings
Use paintings on tall walls
Image source: International Custom Designs
Paintings are welcomed everywhere and wall ideas are always bringing change into a space, but their contribution to a tall living room is simply indispensable. With a nice painting, your high ceiling living room will look beautiful, lively, and elegant. The high ceiling living room decor can truly transform an ordinary room into something extraordinary with the right pieces of wall art.
Your tall walls will turn into art galleries, instead of simple architectural solutions. The best thing about paintings in rooms with high ceilings is that you can use as many as you want, wherever you want. You can even try having a gallery wall. Such high ceiling wall decor ideas not only bring life to your space but also give it character and depth.
Paint a single wall
Image source: E. B. Mahoney Builders, Inc.
Why not painting a single wall, instead of them all? A bold shade for decorating tall walls will certainly go beyond the usual neutral scheme, and it will become the focal point of the room. This is especially true for living rooms with high ceilings where a single painted wall can anchor the tall space and add a bold accent.
Its true-bold colors are adding value and visibility to your wall’s height, but will at the same time decrease the negative effect of height in the case of the other walls. The uniqueness, freshness, and personality of the wall decorating ideas are just a few of the additional benefits. When considering high ceiling living room paint ideas, remember to add depth with contrasting shades and textures.
Attract attention with heavy furniture
Image source: Anne Rue Interiors
The heaviest furniture pieces should be arranged right under the ceiling’s highest point. It’s a key tactic in decorating high ceiling living rooms to diminish any empty and intimidating effects that may occur.
It is one of the most successful tactics for dismissing the intimidating and empty effect that high ceilings and a tall wall, in general, can create. High ceiling bedroom decor also benefits from placing large, heavy furniture to ground the room.
Better yet, large furniture pieces look classy and sophisticated in a high ceilings living room; not a cluttered and bulky living room. Carpets, large sofas, and wooden cabinets serve as excellent ways to balance out the tall ceiling and bring attention back to the living space.
Create an attic floor
Image source: Dewson Construction Company
One of the biggest advantages of a high ceiling house is the possibility to add a cute attic floor. The floor can either be an integral part of your living room or a completely separate and lovely bedroom. High ceiling homes often feature such additions to maximize every inch of vertical space.
Beams are an incredible addition when it comes to charm and warmth into rooms with high ceilings. They can provide architectural interest and help to divide the space, making high ceiling bedrooms feel cozier.
Lavish chandeliers
Image source: Clay Construction Inc.
One of the first suggestions you’d come across when browsing the topic of ‘how to decorate tall ceilings’ is by adding lavish and oversized chandeliers. Having a room with high ceilings means having generous proportions for all lighting fixtures you might have in mind. Modern living room with high ceiling designs often emphasizes such grandeur lighting fixtures.
While they leave observers overwhelmed and breathless, luxurious chandeliers are an expensive and sensitive lighting solution. For those looking for a more budget-friendly answer, consider high ceiling lighting options such as pendant lights or even moveable track lights that can be repositioned based on different furniture layouts.
In case you’re cutting your decoration budget, we recommend you to opt for a tracking alternative, and buy moveable lights which you could reposition when redesigning the place of the furniture. There are numerous high ceiling lightning options you can try.
A contrasting color for the molding
Image source: Margaux Interiors
Painting the molding in a color contrasting one of your ceilings is more than art – it is your tool for establishing visual balance at home by decorating tall walls. High ceiling decorating ideas very often use this technique to add interest and draw the eye horizontally, thereby reducing the overwhelming vertical expanse.
High shelves
Image source: Bulhon Design Associates
Did it cross your mind that high ceilings provide incredible storage space? This is a particularly effective idea for a high ceiling family room design, where multiple functions need to be accommodated within one space.
Instead of cutting out comfort to ensure a spot for your book collection, hang wooden shelves on the edge between your ceiling and your tall walls.
Shelves are both practical and decorative and will go well with every accessory you want to expose. Using them is recommended particularly as large wall decor ideas. In fact, high shelves can enhance both functionality and aesthetics, providing ample storage while drawing attention upwards.
Big windows
Image source: Matt Varnado – Varnado Photography
Another great way to ‘undercover’ height is to ensure you have just equally high windows. Large windows can turn size into an advantage and change completely the high ceiling decor.
The viewers will stay focused on the amazing view; and will feel positive because of the large amount of natural light. The color of the high ceiling curtains can make it an interesting choice too. Consider different high ceiling curtain ideas such as floor-to-ceiling drapes or light-filtering sheers to add softness to the room.
Beams on the ceiling
Image source: Dewson Construction Company
Beams provide stability and authenticity and therefore are the favorite element of designers who want a rustic, nature-orientated home. Beams can also serve as key visual elements in high ceiling living rooms, creating a cozy countryside ambiance in otherwise modern spaces.
Thanks to beams (as well as a few creative solutions-homespun carpets, unfinished floors, vintage furniture, etc.) you can turn an urban apartment into an antique castle or a countryside mansion. These high ceiling ideas can radically transform your home’s atmosphere and aesthetics.
Curtains
Image source: Obviously, your large windows will require equally large curtains, sometimes big enough to cover entire walls. This is a critical aspect of decorating with high ceilings, as the right curtain choice can enhance the room’s height.
You can use the curtains for high windows lighter hues for classic linen solutions; or bold and heavy drapes for energetic and dramatic appearances. Homely patterns are also welcomed to add coziness and comfort to your tall wall decor. The right curtain ideas for high ceilings can manage natural light and create a warm, inviting atmosphere.
More shelves
Image source: Laidlaw Schultz architects
Don’t limit your set of shelves to the ones hanging in parallel with the ceilings. This is a bit of useful advice especially for passionate readers, who can ‘defeat’ emptiness with numerous shelves (ideally in different shapes, levels, and positions). The book arrangements can be one of the best living room art ideas and practical solutions for high ceiling wall design.
Textured ceilings
Image source: John McDonald Company
If your skills and budget allow it, carve the ceiling and add some unique and recognizable texture. Texture can also look good on your fabrics, or well-chosen wooden furniture. High ceiling wall art and textured ceilings can create an opulent and distinctive appearance in your living spaces.
This living room with high ceilings decorating ideas is successful as they break the monotony of eternally high, neutrally painted rooms. Textured and patterned ceilings add a unique flair to the room and can be matched with decor for high ceilings.
The power of rugs and cushions
Image source: David Howell Design
One of the most disturbing problems high ceilings can create is the echo. Believe it or not, acoustics can be adjusted with only a few plush rugs or piles of fluffy cushions to absorb the sound.
Better yet we are discussing accessories whose cuteness never goes out of style. High ceiling family room ideas can benefit greatly from these small but significant additions, creating a cozy and harmonious environment within a large, open space.
The problems of your living room ceilings are becoming, in fact, an invitation to creativity.
Trendiness
Image source: Ruhl Studio Architects
With high ceilings, you’re already halfway to achieving the trendiest living room ceiling ideas design solution of the year: an ‘industrial’ home! The style appeared in the USA during the ‘90s and has been gaining popularity ever since.
Industrial style designers adore high ceilings. In fact, height and tall walls, in general, enable them to underline the importance of airiness and spaciousness, which is exactly why you’d be expected to do in order to ‘minimize’ accessorizing efforts: using nothing more than bricks; few advertising posters, and essential pieces of rough-wood furniture. Such solutions suit open ceiling designs as well and are ideal for those wondering how to decorate a living room with high ceilings.
Textured and patterned panels
Image source: Walter Barda Design
Panels act as perfect sound dampeners, but with a proper pattern/texture, they could become attractive decorations for the homes with high ceilings. They look best in dual-level apartments since they embellish the lofty proportions, and they are really affordable. Wall panels for high ceilings can make a big impact and improve the acoustics in the room.
The rule of thirds
Image source: Manhattan Renovations
The rule of thirds (known also as the Golden Selection Rule) says that every wall should be divided into three equal parts (both vertically and horizontally). This principle is often used in high ceiling wall decor ideas to create balanced and visually pleasing arrangements.
As a second step, each part should be given a purpose: for instance, bottom parts can serve as furniture basis; while large paintings can fulfill the middle parts, and can act as a balancing link between the floor and the ceilings. Depending on the size of the painting, the highest parts can remain empty. Such as rule is an invitation for large wall decorating ideas and detailed ceiling decorations.
Failing to comply with the rule could cause imbalance and could make even the coziest room look cold and empty. In order to find the best ideas for decorating a wall, you may need the expertise of an interior designer.
French windowing
Image source: Moore Architects, PC
French windowing refers to floor-to-ceiling windows that blend the interior with nature, adding dramatic brightness to the room. It is a very sophisticated solution, but it works well as long as you have your own garden and you connect it to fewer private rooms. High-ceiling dining room ideas can also benefit from such grand windows, adding elegance and openness to the space.
A high ceiling design house that uses such a solution will look not only bigger but also as an open space for communication with the environment. Additionally, these ideas can be extended to high-ceiling bedroom design for a cohesive and luxurious home aesthetic.
The ‘Don’t try at home’-s
Image source: STEPHEN FLETCHER ARCHITECTS
As usual, when it comes to interior design, generalizations are not recommended. Therefore, we cannot set up a proper list of ideas to be avoided when thinking about ceiling ideas for living room, but we could at least recommend you to forget small accessories, low furniture, or small artifacts and artworks.
More Decorating Ideas
FAQs about decorating ideas for high ceilings
How do I make high-ceiling rooms feel cozier?
In those sprawling spaces where the echo of emptiness lurks, warmth beckons. Lay down area rugs, embrace the hues of soft, warm colors, and cluster conversational furnishings. Tall floor lamps, plush throws, and bean bags introduce intimacy without forsaking the grandiose air of high ceiling sanctuaries.
What kind of lighting works best in rooms with high ceilings?
Dare to dazzle with lighting that’s a match for the majesty above. Suspend statement chandeliers that draw the eye upward, pair them with wall sconces to spread a soft glow around. For tasks, adjustable track lights bridge the gap, bringing focused luminescence to human-level endeavors.
How can I decorate the tall walls in my high-ceiling room?
Like a canvas yearning for a masterpiece, tall walls invite artistic expression. Consider oversized paintings or a mural that captures attention. Wall-mounted sculptures or staggered shelving adorned with eclectic treasures bring life to the vertical expanse, marrying form and function in a high-rise harmony.
Can I use wallpaper in a room with high ceilings?
Absolutely. Wallpaper isn’t just for the backdrop; it’s for making statements. Select patterns with vertical stripes or cascading designs to accentuate height. Consider a featured wall with bold wallpaper to anchor the room’s aesthetic, counterbalancing the towering airspace with grounded sophistication.
How do I choose furniture for rooms with high ceilings?
Scale is key in furniture selection here. Opt for larger pieces that resonate with the grandeur of your space. Tall bookcases, substantial sofas, and chunky coffee tables hold their own. Let furniture carve out “rooms within the room”, delineating purposeful areas that make grand spaces navigable and neat.
What is the best way to bring color into high-ceiling rooms?
Don’t shy from the spectrum. Use color to sculpt the space. Darker tones draw high ceilings closer, creating an illusion of lower height. Accent walls, with harmonious yet bold palettes, break the monotony of neutral expanses. For subtlety, let colorful decor and textiles sing.
Are there any specific high-ceiling window treatment ideas?
Imagine drapes that sweep the floor with elegance. Long, flowing curtains add texture and fluidity, visually connecting the windows to the rest of the room. Motorized shades offer practicality at lofty heights while preserving the architectural interest that high windows present.
How can I ensure proper acoustics in my high-ceiling room?
Sound bounces in these vast enclosures. Tame the echoes with rugs, upholstered furniture, and fabric wall art. Acoustic panels can blend with your aesthetic while absorbing reverberations. For a seamless solution, incorporate soft materials wherever possible to muffle the overzealous acoustics.
What about maintaining high-ceiling rooms?
The spectacle of heights comes with a caveat—maintenance. Employ long-handled dusters for cobwebs and dust. Consider smart home devices like robotic vacuum cleaners. For fixtures, lighting, and window treatments, integrate systems allowing for remote control. Keep the marvel, minus the hardship.
How to highlight architectural features in high-ceiling rooms?
Showcase architectural marvels with intent. Use track lighting to cast a soft spotlight on mouldings, beams, or trusses. Employ contrast in paint to make structural details pop. Furniture placement should complement, not compete with, the architectural majesty that distinguishes high-ceiling spaces.
Conclusion
In the realm of high ceiling rooms decorating ideas, we grasp that such spaces are not just about the air above but the life below. Today’s musings have escorted you through the grand tapestry of lofty interiors, where the echo of charm meets the whisper of elegance.
- We’ve contemplated the scales of furniture that assert themselves under towering voids,
- Illuminated corners with light fixtures that do more than light—they inspire,
- And dressed walls in grand artwork, wrapping them in tapestries of color, texture, and pattern.
Perchance, the leaps toward striking the perfect balance between grandeur and intimacy now seem less daunting. Embrace these spaces, for they are canvases awaiting your brush.
As you step back, your gaze climbing the heights of your newly transformed dwelling, may you find that every inch reflects the uniqueness of your vision.
Therein lies the beauty of high-ceiling rooms—a boundless opportunity to soar.
If you liked this article about high-ceiling room decorating ideas, you should check out this article about art nouveau interior design.
There are also similar articles discussing toddler room ideas, the mezzanine, steampunk interior design, and shower design ideas.
And let’s not forget about articles on attic master bedroom ideas, brick and stone wall ideas, shoe storage ideas, and Tuscan interior design.
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