Add some colour to your ceilings
Usually ceilings are white. And when renovating, we usually never even get to start a conversation about ceilings, but hear us out… Painting your ceiling can wake up an otherwise empty room, or - at the very least - add some personality to the space. It may feel like an unusual choice to make, but a painted ceiling can lend itself to any room - from the hallway, to the bedroom.
Let’s show you how!
Go green
Small budget, big ideas. Whilst this flat in Barcelona wasn’t short of character, all-white walls would have been too plain. By mixing a lime green base with a deep duck-blue ceiling, architectural duo Matteo Colombo and Andrea Serboli rewrite the history of this room, whilst enhancing the beauty of its traditional Catalan tiles. Look closely: the window frame and the top of the wall have also been painted to create a seamless box effect.
White + terracotta: the latest decor duo
“The most important thing is not how much space you have, it’s what you do with it.” As you can imagine, we are completely on the same page as Space Factory with this mantra. Edouard Roullé-Mafféis and Ophélie Doria push the boundaries of this room by challenging the classic rules of renovation, in a bid to draw attention away from its limitations. Here, the ceiling is painted in a shade of terracotta that makes you instantly forget how low it is - instead emphasising the volume of the white furnishings, which then seem even larger. Simply stunning!
A floating bubble
We all know the headache that comes with rooms with no natural light. Should we make them all-white, even when, without any ‘real’ light, they can tend to look grey? Or should we go the other way, and add a super-bold colour instead? Lisa Gachet went for the latter, by adding an Olive wall to her little girl’s room. Stretching from floor to ceiling, this colour echoes the wallpaper by Papermint and creates an enveloping effect, designed to be cocoon-like. It’s a really bold choice, which works all the better in small spaces.
Yellow for two sisters
A recurring theme you’ll find in Lucie Socrate’s house is that colour is not limited to its aesthetic appeal. This interior designer assigns specific roles to colour, for example, using it to mimic a separation in the room shared by her two little girls. Where a wall would have been a little drastic and a curtain too formal, the yellow band that runs from floor to ceiling structures the otherwise all-white room and creates two playful bubbles, perfect for children. Now your turn to play!
A line of thought
On paper, corridors are at odds with their ceilings. But in reality, hours can be spent agonising over how to design a passageway without making it feel cluttered, and how to make it seem as though it has some character. In her typically Parisian flat, designer Venetico Marina chose to decorate hers in a deep blue that extends over the back of the door and onto the ceiling, which catches the eye and creates perspective. You know what’s next!
Gourmet scenes
If Emilie Daudin's office looks like a flat to you, it’s because she’s rewritten all design codes to create a space that is as functional as it is liveable. You can see this in the open kitchen, where the space is defined by a sculptural screen and the powder pink colour of the walls and ceiling. This creates a box effect that opens itself up, which adds separation to the space without creating a harsh divide.
La vie en rose
Panic not: a dark, seemingly cramped bathroom doesn’t have to crush your renovation dreams! Instead of opting for white (which, trust us, would have looked dull anyway), Lisa Gachet decided to paint her bathroom pink from floor to ceiling, giving it a totally retro feel. The tiles add texture to the space, while the black tiles offer some contrast. This look paid off!
