Decorative Painted Ceiling Treatment

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Traditional American house styles tend to have lots of doors and separate rooms. The more modern residential trend is for fewer doors and walls and a more open floor plan. While this change is nicely adapted to contemporary lifestyles and home life, all of those long stretches of uninterrupted floors and ceilings can create challenges for the homeowner or interior designer looking to create a sense of separately defined spaces without having to erect physical barriers.

This objective can be handled at floor level fairly easily, by arranging furniture to enclose spaces and direct traffic. Adding a rug or using different types of flooring surfaces are other options. But these approaches do not work too well on a ceiling, for obvious reasons. Laurie faced this challenge in the family room of a Miami home with a ceiling that flowed straight into the adjacent kitchen and hallway. She wanted to create some type of visual barrier on the ceiling that better helped to define the family room itself, and she decided to do this with the simplest material possible – paint. But rather than paint the entire ceiling above the family room, which would have left an abrupt and clumsy looking paint line at the edges of the room, Laurie chose to paint a large rectangle inset from the walls, leaving a border of the existing paint around the entire room. This created a bold canopy over the room, yet one that maintained a pleasing visual transition in the ceiling plane from one room to the next.

Shopping List

paint
paint tray, roller, and roller cover
2-in.-wide painter's tape
drop cloth

optional items:
molding
finish nails
wood putty
construction adhesive
small paint brush

Design Options

The ceilings in the Miami house featured in this episode of Trading Spaces were finished with that rough textured coating that is so common on drywalled ceilings. Because of the texture, it is virtually impossible to create a straight paint edge on this type of surface, even when painter's tape is used. So Laurie chose cover the paint line with strips of molding, which added another defining characteristic to the ceiling treatment. If your ceilings are smooth, you should be able to create straight lines with the paint and painter's tape. Adding the molding would then be less a necessity than a personal choice.

Plan Ahead

The primary decisions that you need to make in planning this ceiling project are (1) what color to use, and (2) how wide to make the border around the ceiling. Laurie chose a color that resembled pumpkin pie for this particular room, which blended nicely with the yellows and creams that dominated the rest of the room. You may want to compare sample paint strips in your home rather than just at the paint store. Keep in mind that darker colors may have the boldest effect, but they can also darken the room itself. The width of the border is probably best determined by the size of the room; a 12- to 16-inch border would probably work just fine in most rooms, but you might prefer that it be narrower or wider. Since the border here is essentially that part of the ceiling that is not being painted, it would stand to reason that the wider the border, the less paint you will need.

Tape the Ceiling

The key to painting a straight line is to make sure that the painter's tape is applied in a straight line. To do this, first use a measuring tape and pencil to mark the desired paint line. You don't need to draw a full outline with the pencil, but make enough small marks to offer a guide for the painter's tape. Have a helper hold the painter's tape at one corner while you extend it to the next corner. Use your hand to smooth over the tape so that it is sealed against the ceiling. If it isn't sealed (and it won't be on a textured ceiling) paint will leak beneath it.

Paint the Ceiling

No matter how careful a painter you are, you will almost certainly spill, drip, or spatter some paint on the surfaces beneath the ceiling. So cover everything with drop cloths, or move all furniture and furnishings out of the room and cover the floor with a drop cloth. Mix and apply the paint as directed on the can. Plan on applying at least two coats. When the paint has dried thoroughly, carefully remove the tape.

Add the Molding (optional)

If you would like to surround the newly painted surface with molding, it will be easiest to cut and paint the molding before installing it on the ceiling. The molding can be attached with finish nails as long as you are certain that the nails are being driven into ceiling joists. Otherwise, molding can be attached with a thin, continuous bead of construction adhesive applied either on the ceiling or the backside of the molding. Press the molding tightly against the ceiling, and use strips of painter's tape to hold it in place while the adhesive dries. Wipe away any adhesive that oozes out. If you use nails, countersink the heads, fill the holes with wood putty, and then add paint with a small brush.