Look Up: Ceilings Get Creative

The Ceiling: A Room’s Fifth Wall

Interior designers have long referred to the ceiling as a room’s “fifth wall”—an often-overlooked surface with plenty of potential beyond a simple coat of white paint. Houston designer Sandy Lucas of Lucas/Eilers Design Associates believes homeowners should give ceilings the same attention they give walls, floors, and furnishings.

“The ceiling is just so important,” Lucas says. “Historically, ceilings in traditional design were always included in decor. The midcentury contemporary era is when ceilings and walls became very simple, white, and undecorated.”

Now, ceilings are enjoying a renewed moment in interior design. Architects, professional designers, and DIY enthusiasts are experimenting with color, texture, architectural details, and decorative finishes to transform the space overhead.

Paint remains one of the easiest and most affordable ways to make an impact. Lucas often favors soft blue shades, including Farrow & Ball Skylight, Benjamin Moore Yarmouth Blue, and Sherwin-Williams Ellie Gray, a color she has used in her own home. Soft blue ceilings are also a familiar Southern design tradition, particularly on porches, where the sky-inspired color is believed to help discourage wasps.

For homeowners looking for something more dramatic, the possibilities extend well beyond paint. Coffered ceilings, exposed beams, trusses, plasterwork, decorative molding, and wallpaper can all add character and visual interest.

Designer Linda Eyles of Linda Eyles Design discovered the impact of wallpapered ceilings when she participated in the 2019 ASID Gulf Coast Chapter Show House. She decorated a dining room with wallpaper on the ceiling and noticed that visitors initially responded to the room in a predictable way. Then, when they looked upward, their reactions changed.

“I had done other treatments, tray ceilings, coffers, and other things, but I had never used wallpaper there,” Eyles says. “That room was a dining room and a very simple box, and it needed something more than just pretty furniture and pretty draperies. We had to push the envelope somehow.”

The experience made wallpapered ceilings one of Eyles’ favorite design techniques. In one guest bedroom, she used floral wallpaper in rich plum and peacock blue on the ceiling, framing it with crown molding painted in the same blue. Purple draperies and a velvet plum-upholstered bed completed the layered color scheme.

Eyles believes ceilings offer an opportunity that homeowners often overlook.

“It’s so great that we have an opportunity with the fifth wall. We used to stick a chandelier up there and call it a day,” she says. Even rooms that already feature decorative walls can benefit from a distinctive ceiling. In a powder room, for example, a lacquered ceiling can introduce a subtle touch of shine.

In another project, Eyles used hand-painted Porter Teleo wallpaper to create a dramatic retreat for a client she describes as a “Renaissance man.” The wallpaper and rug were designed to complement one another, creating visual bookends through their bold patterns. Against an eggplant-purple background that matched the walls, gold streaks in the wallpaper echoed the Japanese art of kintsugi, in which broken pottery is repaired with gold.

For Lucas and her design partner, Sarah Eilers, the ceiling is an essential part of the overall composition of a room. The right color, pattern, or architectural treatment can change the way a space feels.

In a small room, a lighter ceiling color can make the space feel brighter and more open. In contrast, a deep, saturated color can create a cozy and intimate atmosphere. Architectural details can also influence the perception of height. Adding beams to a tall vaulted ceiling, for example, can emphasize its vertical scale and draw the eye upward.

Ceilings can also be used to introduce architectural character. In homes with unused attic space, homeowners may be able to raise the ceiling height or incorporate vaulted or groin-vaulted designs. These structures can then be finished with paint, natural stone, brick, or other materials.

Reclaimed wood is another way to bring warmth and history into a space. Authentic beams made from salvaged wood, including timber recovered from old barns, can give a room an immediate sense of age and character.

Sarah Eilers used this approach in a whole-home project in Park City, Utah. Hand-hewn beams were installed throughout the house to make the newly built home appear as though it had developed its character naturally over time. Larger beams were used in the spacious, light-filled living room, while slightly smaller beams were incorporated into the kitchen ceiling. The kitchen also featured reclaimed tongue-and-groove wood planks.

Together, the wood elements added warmth and an Old World feel to a brand-new home.

While existing homes offer plenty of opportunities for ceiling upgrades, new construction provides even greater flexibility. Homeowners building from the ground up can incorporate ceiling treatments into the architecture from the beginning, rather than trying to retrofit them later.

“You have more choices when it’s a house under construction because there’s a millwork team and painters already on the job,” Lucas says.

For her, the key is planning ahead. Ceiling design should be considered alongside the rest of the home’s architecture, finishes, furnishings, and overall aesthetic.

“We try to think of everything in the beginning,” she says. “It’s better than going back in after a home is finished.”

The lesson is simple: the ceiling does not have to disappear into the background. With thoughtful color, texture, pattern, or architectural detail, the fifth wall can become one of the most memorable elements in a room.