Decorative Ceilings

Decorative ceilings

Decorative Ceilings are a trend we are paying ever more attention to throughout many of our projects. Painting a ceiling in a flat matt white seems to us to be a missed opportunity for our decorative expression, so we are now constantly looking at elevating ceilings to become the 5th wall within every room.

To explore how this trend is evolving through our world of interiors and our client’s homes, here are four of the many ways we’re converting ceilings into a decorative 5th wall.

 

Architectural details and vaulted ceilings

Vaulted ceilings have been around for thousands of years, and some of the very first designs can be dated back roughly seven thousand years ago to a neolithic village in Crete. Most notably, they can be found worldwide and in Gothic cathedrals and domed spaces such as the Pantheon in Rome.

In the modern home, we see vaulted ceilings as an opportunity to extend a room upwards, creating a volume of overhead space.

A current project we are working on is a spa area for a private client. In this space, we are introducing architectural details such as arched, barrel-vaulted ceilings that create one uniform arch to extend across the entire room, to give a sense of height and grandeur while reflecting light and adding depth and movement to a space.

For another client, we have added domed ceilings with beautiful skylights that allow light to flood into the space whilst adding decorative drama.

 

Fibre optic and lit ceilings

Fibre Optic ceilings are a fantastic new technology which can be added to a room to create various atmospheres, from star ceilings that create a sensation of sleeping out under a dark starry night, or in a cinema room to create the desired atmospheric environment.

One project, in particular, was a basement renovation in a townhouse in Belgravia, which was very dark and gloomy. We found some excellent new technology skylights that mimic daylight using LED technology and digital algorithms to produce controllable light fields similar to natural outdoor conditions. The skylights are created based on physics models of the real sky and create a beautifully clear sky effect in all its hues from dawn to dusk.

 

Wallpapered and painted ceilings

Quite possibly, the easiest way of adding instant drama to a room is by using paint or wallpaper, and there are infinite patterns, colours and styles to choose from.

Most recently, a great example of using wallpaper and paint was for our Chateau Denmark hotel project. As a wholly unique design intent, the rooms throughout have four distinct narratives, including Vintage Gothic, Timeless Grandeur, Modern Psychedelia and Punk Now. Throughout the Timeless Grandeur scheme, we painted the ceiling black and used a Cole & Sons antique mirror effect wallpaper on the bathroom ceilings.

To add height and interest to the lower-ceiling rooms in the loft space, we introduced Anaglypta wallpaper within coffers and in between beams and painted it gold to add a real sense of height and interest to the whole room.

 

Decorative plaster work

The art of plasterwork has had a powerful revival. While it’s an unamusing mix of mineral dust and water, we can use it to create an extraordinary decoration that looks delicate and fragile but is actually very robust.

For a large new build project on a country estate, we are working with various fibrous plasterwork specialists such as Locker and Riley to create some incredibly ornate and spectacular decorative ceilings. One crafted, we will be painting them in soft shades and then further highlighting them with real gold leaf gilding – a truly remarkable design!

In the dressing room, we will incorporate a bespoke plasterwork floral magnolia ceiling that echoes the embroidered De Gournay silk wallpaper we’ll be using on the walls and wardrobe doors – a superb way of bringing the five walls together in a very aesthetically pleasing way.