11 Tips to Make Your Ceiling Look Taller

The ceiling is the most obvious sight in your home, so you want it to look great. It’s also important to make the ceiling look taller because people’s eyes are naturally drawn upwards. You can make a room feel larger by turning its height into the main focal point. This will give you (and your visitors) one more thing to enjoy about your home while giving it an inviting ambiance.

As the height of ceilings gets lower, things can start to feel a little smaller. It also makes it harder for us to bring the ceiling into our interior design schemes since there’s less room for features! But you don’t have to be limited by your low ceiling. There are lots of ways that you can use interior design tricks to make your ceiling look higher than it really is. Here are ten great ideas!

How to Make Your Ceiling Look Higher in 10 Easy Steps

1. Consider using Decorative Painting Techniques

Decorative painting techniques are an especially good idea if you have a low ceiling because they are great at visually enlarging what you are working with. You can use stencils, trompe l’oeil, or wall murals to create artwork that will make your living room feel bigger and brighter. Your living room will have an instant lift. You can paint on beams, add a coffered or wainscoted look, or simply add a wallpaper that will give the impression of height. It’s easy to do and it is amazing how effective this simple step can be, as it’s like winning a free bingo game!

2. Optimize Lighting

Lighting can be your savior for a smaller, darker room with a low ceiling because good lighting brightens up even the dimmest spaces. If you have high ceilings, don’t worry about recessed lights—you can leave those out because they are basically useless anyway if ceilings are too low for them to make a difference. Suspended ceiling fixtures and track lighting are your best bets in high-ceilinged rooms, but if you have low ceilings, make the most of them by placing lamps and light fixtures strategically: high above eye level (if possible) and near walls.

3. Better Mirrors

This trick is another way to get maximum bang out of minimum bucks when it comes to high/low ceilings: use mirrors that reflect height to give the illusion that there’s more room than there really is! Floor-length mirrors placed on the floor will be less effective than wall-mounted ones because the reflection won’t stretch high enough to reflect high ceilings.

4. Use Floor Lights for an Uplifting Look

Interior lighting is an easy way to change up your décor without spending much money or doing any major renovations. To give the impression of extra height, try adding floor lamps under low ceilings versus recessed lights on top of them. You’ll get more light to your room while still making it look larger than ever before.

5. Use Low-sitting Furniture

This trick makes it look like your ceiling is high… even if it’s not! Low furniture adds length and proportion to a room so what appears high will look high. If you have high ceilings, this rule can be reversed: furniture placed high on the wall gives off an airy feel that works well with high ceilings. Floor lamps are perfect for high ceilings, too. They sit low to the ground and give off light upwards toward the ceiling, which brightens up your interior design.

6. Paint Your Ceiling White

White paint has a high reflective quality and can make a ceiling look higher. If you want to paint your ceilings white, remember: the lighter the shade of paint, the lighter and airier your room will appear. You may also opt for high-gloss to really give off that high ceiling effect.

7. Highlight Your Ceilings With Artwork & Decor

Using high-end painting is another wonderful and beautiful option. This type of artwork draws attention to high ceilings and makes them seem higher than they actually are. Choose beautiful decor to match! Large mirrors can work wonders too; they reflect light and space making your interior design look bigger and brighter. You can also opt for choosing textured wallpapers or luxurious designer wallpaper; it will do the same trick.

8. Use crown molding

Adding crown molding will not only add value to your home, but it also makes your ceiling look taller. If you can measure the length of your high ceiling, you should be able to calculate the number of crown molding pieces that will be needed for proper looks. Once all pieces are cut and installed, simply paint them white or a color that matches with the wall color so it doesn’t stand out too much and the high-ceiling illusion is complete.

9. Creating Mystery 

Try painting the walls in a soft color that evokes feelings of intimacy. Mix textures so that some surfaces aren’t even visible behind others. A little bit of darkness here goes a long way in making the ceiling recede into the background. Deeper colors, high sheens, and reflective surfaces can help create this effect too – just be careful not to go overboard with light-reflective elements like chrome or polished stone on walls because they might make the space feel smaller.

10. Elevating Ceiling Elements

If you are dealing with a drop ceiling (a very common scenario in basements), paint tiles white or find tiles that are high-gloss and reflective, like those often seen in showers. This will create the illusion of height by mirroring natural light or reflecting any overhead lighting that is already present. Another idea is to replace panels with frosted glass, which provides opacity without making the room feel enclosed.

11. Hang Your Ceiling With Faux-Ceiling Drapes

The faux ceiling is an inexpensive way to keep your low ceiling looking interesting without disrupting the mood of the space. Fabric drapes were once only used in formal spaces like libraries but now they are making their way into kitchens, playrooms, bedrooms, and more. Adding fabric gives your room more color and texture while drawing your eye upward towards your ceiling. If you don’t want to hang drapes consider painting lace on top of the ceiling or adding beadboard or wainscoting for another variation on this decoration idea.

Conclusion

By doing all of these ten things, you will make your low ceilinged room seem higher. But who cares?! If anything, this is a good thing as it’s actually easier to decorate low-ceilinged rooms as they need less heavy decorations and flairs that can ultimately bring down the ceiling even further! And for those who have already received a low-ceilinged space as a gift, try thinking outside the box. Mirrors are an easy solution but there are other options too. Maybe you could turn a dark basement into a prime music room or man cave where people won’t pay attention to what’s above them. It doesn’t matter how big or small your home is but if you do enough of these following suggestions, you should be able to gain a few extra feet and make your ceilings taller.