In the last few decades, ceilings have gotten higher. I first noticed this when moving from the Northeast where most homes are older, to
High ceilings are impressive. They make a space feel- well, roomier. Builder love them because it impresses buyers and makes a small footprint seem larger than it is. But how high is too high? My ceilings are 10 feet and I find them to be perfect. Tall enough to feel spacious and not so high as to feel impersonal. Even up to 12 feet can be fine. A ceiling over 12 feet runs the risk of dwarfing the space below. It’s fine for a public spaces like a hotel lobby, but personal spaces need to feel more intimate.
If buying a new house, I suggest you overlook the impressiveness of overly high ceilings. They can be difficult to furnish and uncomfortable to live in. But if you already have purchased a home with high ceilings, read on for suggestions. Even if your ceilings are 10-12 feet, you should find some helpful information here..
Many higher ceilinged rooms have plant shelves. I’ll often get design questions regarding how to “furnish” these spaces. The best answer is “skip it”. Anything you put up there becomes a dust collector and takes the attention away from the people, décor, and what ever is happening in the room. If you must decorate your shelves, opt for silk plants that look authentic. Collections such as animals, birdhouses or ceramics will also work. The most important thing to remember is “less is more”. Don’t fill the whole space. Place things in group and overlap them rather than lining them up like soldiers. In Feng Shui we say this gives the “chi” (energy) room to circulate.
Kitchens are a room that often has a bulkhead over the upper cabinets. The space on top is the plant shelf. If you must “furnish” this space, opt for items that relate to kitchens such as decorative platters or tin molds.
In my interior design gallery you will see examples of 2 kitchens that had this feature. In the first one, we tore down the bulkheads and a partial wall allowing us to install larger cabinets and vary the heights. If you are redoing a kitchen, this would be the preferred method. However, in the second case we were refacing the cabinets rather than replacing them. Also, electrical components made it more difficult and costly. So we left the bulkhead/plant shelves but removed all the items on top for a cleaner look. We wanted to focus on what was going on in the kitchen rather than at the ceiling. I designed a decorative frieze to be painted on the bulkhead, creating a focal point rather than an obstacle. Decorative artist Beverly Barris in
When a ceiling is taller than 10-12 feet, Feng Shui consultants will note that the chi rises to the top of the room away from the people below. In order to solve this problem, we must make design changes to focus the attention and energy at "people level". Although chandeliers may look better hung a little higher in a tall room, make sure it is not up at the ceiling. Both chandeliers and ceiling fans should be low enough to give light and cool the air and to keep the eye from rising to the ceiling. Remember- the chi flows where the eye goes.
In Feng Shui we talk about drawing the line between heaven and earth. This is especially important in a room with a high or sloped ceiling. This can be done in a subtle way by arranging pictures, mirrors, and anything hanging so that the tops line up. In this way, we have "dropped" the ceiling height to the height of the imaginary line we have drawn. It can be done in a more overt way by actually drawing a line around all the walls of a room, dropping a foot or more down from the ceiling. This is especially effective in a room with a varied height ceiling. Paint one color below the line and another above the line and onto the ceiling. I recommend installing a piece of molding between the two colors for a more finished, polished and decorative look.
Also remember when furnishing a room with volume ceilings to make sure the scale of the furniture is on the larger size so it won't be dwarfed by the high ceilings.
