Notice How the Grayed-Green Walls Show Off Art & The Exposed Ceiling Detail

A neighbor and friend in Takoma Park, MD was planning to paint the interior of her home.  It’s a wonderful craftsman – small but with lots of nice details. I had always thought the house was a bit washed out with a light, monochromatic color palette.  I asked if she was open to something new.  Here’s the result and her own words about the change:
 

AFTER - The small home feels larger with more detail

Off-White Walls Lack Depth & Interest

 
“My house is a tiny Craftsman bungalow with small rooms.  It’s filled with an eclectic collection of art, antiques, and other stuff I’ve inherited, collected, or made myself.  There’s no theme, period, or color scheme.  With this much variety in little spaces, I thought I needed a uniform, neutral background like khaki and white.

“The house feels bigger now.  The darker walls recede.  When I walk through the house, there are subtle changes in the wall colors and light, so it feels like a journey in several stages.  That captures my senses and makes the walk seem longer.

“I’ve always loved the beam and board ceiling in the living room, but it never really showed up like it should.  Now it reflects light, shadow, and paint colors as the light changes.  I find myself slouching in my easy chair, looking up, and enjoying the show.

“I especially enjoy the contrast between the tiny kitchen and the largest room, the living room.  The kitchen ceiling, painted dark gray green, feels lower than it really is, and makes it seem cozy.  Then when I walk into the living room, the white beam and board ceiling seems much higher and bigger than it actually is.  Welcome to Versailles! 

“My collection of art and things looks good against the gray green walls.  I wasn’t surprised that the reds really sing, but I was delighted at how good the greens and blues look.  “
 

Notice How the Contrast of Trim and Room Transitions Enhance the Experience

Add Depth & Dimension with Wall Color

Artwork is Enhance with Wall Color

Wall Color Enhances Artwork

I follow certain rules when I develop a palette for a home.  The transition areas (foyer and hallways) are the deepest most intense color within the palette.  The wall color gets lighter as you move through the home toward the rooms with the most daylight.  All wood trim is painted the same color for continuity – usually an off-white that coordinates with the paint.  In this case, with a palette of greyed-greens, the white has hint of yellow for a soft crème to contrast with the walls and the wood blinds.  I prefer quite complex colors – ones where it’s hard to say what’s in it.  These colors provide the greatest variability on the wall reflecting different hues depending on the light source and value.  Shadows and highlights are shown to great effect.  I also prefer matte finish because imperfections in the wall surface are less visible and they absorb the most light and therefore reflect the best color.

Consider the following sets of pictures — Each a “Before” and ” After”.  The first 3 sets are from homes that I remodeled for clients.  These pictures represent areas that had the smallest structural changes but in each case the original white walls/white trim were repainted with more color and contrast.  In each case the home looks larger after the white walls were painted with color.

Set 1:  Living Room

"After" - Taupe Walls Provide Contrast and Perspective

"Before" - White Walls & Trim Make The Home Look Smaller

Notice how the distances between the furniture and the walls and the front room and room behind feel larger in the “After” photos.  This entire effect is created with color and contrast.  The contrast of the off-white trim and the taupe walls as well as the smaller area rug make the living room feels larger.  The Sun Room, behind, is painted a much lighter color and therefore feels farther away – making the whole home feel larger.

The artwork has changed between “Before” and “After”.  However, you can also notice how the darker walls, help intensify and therefore make more noticeable the contrast with the creamy color of the mat and also the family photos used (although rearranged) before and after.

Set 2:  Living Room

"After" - Color Enlarges This Home

"Before" - White Walls & Trim Make the Home Look Smaller

You see exactly the same effect by use of color “Before” and “After”.  The room behind looks further away and the artwork is more defined and more of a focal point because of the greater contrast and definition.  Our eye requires definition in order to perceive distance.  An all white room lacks definition and therefore is actually made to feel smaller.

Set 3:  Bedroom

"After" - Color & Details Enlarge Bedroom

"Before" - The White Walls Make the Bedroom Feel Smaller

We painted my client’s formerly white condo, several saturated and pale shades of green with a very saturated reddish brown entryway and accents.  Everyone who comes in thinks the condo looks much larger.  One even asked if she purchased the unit next door and broke through!

Our eye needs depth landmarks to perceive size.  In the “Before” image, the individual large pieces of furniture against the off-white walls makes things feel crowded and close together.  In the “After” picture, the contrast and details make the room feel larger.  In addition, the light bounces off the semi-gloss paint of the built-in bookcases sending light further into the room.  Granted, some of these effects would be true if the built-ins had been painted white but the effect is accentuated by the addition of color.

Notice, also, that the objects displayed in the open shelves also take on more definition against the deeper color.

In the “After” room, the ceiling is painted a bluish-violet.  It reads as a nice shadow effect and also enhances the green of the walls.

Set 4: Living Area
I’ve taken the next 3 images from the web.  I’ve doctored  the “After” image by adding an intense blue ceiling and an accent of deep rust.

"After" - Blue Ceiling Lends Perspective & Scale

"Before" - All White Ceiling and Walls is Devoid of Scale

In the doctored image, the room feels larger; Our eye needs boundaries to perceive scale.   When we don’t see boundaries and something beyond the boundary, we perceive areas as smaller.

In the image, below, from the same home, the white is balanced and given scale and depth by the black and white checkerboard floor in the background and the foreground straw color of the seat cushions.  Although, again, an intense blue ceiling would add additional perspective and depth to the room.  Click Here to see read more about this home.

Contrast Adds Perspective

Set 5: Colored Walls and Artwork

Colored Walls Enhance Artwork

White Goes With All Artwork - But enhances Few

The first image is accurate; I doctored the 2nd image to achieve a “white” wall.  To my eye, the artwork is enhanced by using the greyed-green on the walls  — a near complement to the predominant rusts and reddish-browns in the paintings, the mantle and sculpture.  Even the artist commented that the paintings never looked better than in this setting.  Gallery walls are white because no single color will enhance all artwork.  And white will not clash with any particular artwork.  In your home, though, you have the flexibility to select the right tone to bring out the best in your artwork and furnishings.

Now on to the last 2 myths:  All white can be unsettling and not restful if there isn’t sufficient contrast and focal points on which our eye can rest.  Imagine the room, below, without the accent of the yellow desk and the high contrast of the artwork on the back wall.  Our eye would be searching for a place to land.  As it is, the dark floor serves the same purpose as the blue ceiling in one of the photos above – the ability to perceive boundaries.  And the yellow focal point and the graphic art gives our eye the contrast and resting place that we need to feel comfortable.   See more of this office here.

White Needs Contrast to Work

It is for all these reasons that it’s not always best to paint your interior all white or beige when you’re getting ready to sell your home.  You certainly don’t want to paint the ceiling turquoise but you do want to provide sufficient contrast and interest that the buyer perceives the size and scale – or ideally perceives even greater size and scale that what you offer.

I’m not in any way suggesting that you shouldn’t use white.  But when you do, make sure you add sufficient contrast and detail to relieve boredom.

Here is some additional reading for ideas about how to select a color scheme that works.

• What Makes Color Work
• Color Concepts – Another Palette

Many of us love the “charm” of an older home – one built before 1930.  For the most part what we’re responding to is the architectural detailing that comes from building without stock parts and without a production mentality.  In today’s home, such detailing is no less desirable – whether it’s funky, traditional, or rustic.

Funky:

Painted Lumber Hide Electrical Wires

In my sculpture studio, above, I used painted lumber to hide electrical wires – both to the fluorescent fixtures and to the low voltage track lighting.  This action was actually a cost savings action; it was cheaper to hide the wires behind lumber than to fish them through old plaster ceilings.  Even adding the additional decorative lumber – one of the legs of the large angle plus the 4 cross pieces – was cheaper than fishing the wires through the ceiling.  The labor of painting the lumber was my sweat equity.  2 additional cost savings actions – seen above and below – included (1) a piece of ¼” luan to hide the hole created where we took down a wall – painted bright aqua, and (2) a graphic painted on the wall and ceiling to disguise a ceiling that’s badly out of level.  The white railing is hung level (used as a flexible hanging rail for both pictures and shelving).  It’s 5” closer to the ceiling at its end than at the corner.  The bright graphic helps disguise this flaw of a hundred year old building.

Graphics Disquise Sloped Ceiling

The ceiling of Spin Pizza, below, again uses raw lumber to hide a mish-mash of ceiling elements.  The overall effect is actually calming in it’s randomness.  Read article

Ceiling Spin Pizza

Traditional:

A soffit is often used to help define areas within a room.  In the rendering, below, I plan to use a soffit to define a foyer in a home in Bethesda, MD where the front door opens directly into the living room.  The new foyer is defined on one side by a stained glass panel and on the other side by a new coat closet and an alcove with a door to a new powder room.  By painting the soffit a dark charcoal and the walls of the foyer a darker gray than the rest of the living room, the foyer feels enclosed.  You get a feeling of expansion as you walk into the living room.  A stone floor in the foyer completes the look.  The stone floor and outfitted coat closet allows the foyer to functions as a mud room entry.

Soffit used To Define Foyer

In the photo, below, a gentle pearl color on the sloped ceiling and cove lighting give a special effect.

Soft Pearl Ceiling Highlighted With Cove Lighting

And below we, again, use a darker color on the soffit of a faux tray ceiling.

Dark Soffit Helps Define Tray Ceiling

A 3-part crown molding sets off the ceiling, below, in a 1905 vernacular farmhouse.

3-Part Crown Molding

Rustic or Country:

Wood plank ceilings are a common element in rustic construction.  Below are two images from a blog posting on cottage style from completely-costal.com.  Go to the original post and notice that almost all the ceilings are decorated – usually with painted or unpainted wooden planks.

Painted Plank Ceiling

Painted Plank Ceiling

Whichever style makes sense for your home, special details on the ceiling or that frame the ceiling can lend immeasurable charm to your home.

Images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build unless noted.

]]> http://www.braitmandesign.com/home-remodeling/the-decorated-ceiling-it%e2%80%99s-all-in-the-details/feed/ 0 http://www.braitmandesign.com/home-remodeling/master-suite-make-ordinary-extraordinary/ http://www.braitmandesign.com/home-remodeling/master-suite-make-ordinary-extraordinary/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:41:19 +0000 Jackie Braitman http://www.braitmandesign.com/blog/?p=1413

Master Bedroom with Soffit & Cove Lighting

My client’s wish list for a remodeled master suite in the upper Northwest Washington, DC neighborhood of the Palisades included an enlarged bath and dressing area and bumping up the ceiling to create a tray ceiling.  Unlike many clients, they were not particularly looking for increased daylighting, however the wife definitely wanted to lighten up the heavy feel of the Spanish carved furniture and heavy drapes.  Another problem she wanted fixed was the tight and awkward entryway to the bedroom.

As is my practice, unless required, I prefer to work within the existing footprint — which was quite do-able in this home.  The 1950’s split-level had plain vanilla rooms with small baths.  In order to acquire the space for the enlarged master bath and dressing area, we appropriated closets near the existing small master bath and a 1970’s addition that had been used as a sewing room and closet for the husband.  With three daughters now grown and out of the house, a bedroom was re-purposed for the sewing room.

View Toward Hallway & Master Bath

Even though the husband was concerned that the room was small, we actually moved the bath wall 9” into the bedroom.  We also enlarged the doorway and moved it toward the right.  A niche right as you enter, see picture above, will eventually house a small floating valet cabinet and mirror.  We reduced the width of the doorway into the new dressing area and the windows in the dressing area and aligned both with the new entryway.  Rather than bump-up the ceiling into the attic – which would have cost $30,000 to $40,000 because of the extensive structural changes to the joist and rafters – we added a 6” high soffit around the entire room and opened up a tray ceiling in the soffit.  We left the soffit lowered to distinguish the passageway to the bath and dressing area from the bedroom proper.  In the “After” Floor Plan, the dotted lines represent the edges of soffit and the hatched walls indicate the walls that were added or changed.

These combination of changes – that actually reduced the size and volume of the room — created a feeling of greater size and openness.  We also used color to make the bedroom feel larger – the hallway is a dark color which gives a sense of compression in the hallway and expansion as you walk into the room.  The soffit is painted a darker color than either the bedroom walls or ceiling.  Again – a sense of compression and shadow leading to areas of expansion and light.  With the structural changes, the coordinated and deliberate palette helps the space feel larger.

The dressing area provides a quite generous 4 feet clear area between the cabinets.  We provided a mix of hanging and folding space – open cabinets and closed cabinets; shelves and drawers.  While not going overboard, we also provided some customized accessories.  The one that seems to be the biggest hit are the 2 pullout luggage shelves.  When pushed in the overnight bags are stored out of the way.  When pulled out, they are just the right height for packing with clothes conveniently nearby.  We also included valet rods and pull-out tie and belt racks that take up otherwise unused room within the cabinets.

Dressing Room

Custom Pull-Out Luggage Shelf

Custom Pull-out Luggage Shelf - In Use

We paid a lot of attention to lighting throughout the master suite.  We used LED cove lighting in the tray ceiling and low voltage recessed lighting in the soffit – first to highlight further the path to the bath and dressing areas, second for individual reading lights over the bed, and third to highlight artwork and as wall washers.

Row of Low-Voltage Recessed Lights Mark Way to Dressing Room

In the bath was used a combination of ceiling washers and task lighting (see “Enlarging a Master Bath”)

In the dressing area, we used “warm colored” fluorescent lighting at the top of the cabinets and, in a different finish, as sconces on either side of the mirror (see image of dressing room)

Finally, as part of the master suite remodel and additional work at the home, all the windows in the home were switched from double-hung windows to casements.  Casements are much easier to open and given better ventilation.  To get a better proportion but to limit costs, we used replacement windows but with a custom vertical divider so that they look like double casements.  These lines increase the modern feel that the homeowners desired.

Floor Plan "AFTER"

Floor Plan "BEFORE"

Bedroom BEFORE Remodeling

Dressing Room BEFORE Remodeling

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build

High celings — welcome throughout the house — can feel awkward in a bath.  The design of the alcove in this elegant master bath solves not only the problem of the high ceiling but several problems as well. The large crown molding was set at 83″ to create a uniform horizon above eye level but substantially below the 10′ ceilings. The bath is narrow and the 10′ ceilings felt too high in the small space. The horizon line created by the bed molding, the top of the cabinet (to the right) and the shower glass (not shown) is continuous around the room. Now the room feels in proportion.

The alcove itself solves several other problems. The cabinet to the right of the vanity defines both the vanity alcove and a separate toilet alcove. See
Floor Plan, below. The arrow represents the location of the camera.

Using the cabinet as a divider creates a more open feel than would a walled-off water closet. The custom stained glass doors further helps open the space. The cabinet also provides ample storage space for the vanity area where a recessed medicine cabinet could not be installed (the drywall is just firred off the chimney behind the mirror).

Adding, of course, to the elegance is the juxtaposition of contrasting materials: the black stained wood of the vanity & mirror frames contrasting with the white of the moldings; the hardness of the stone countertop and backsplash contrasting with the fragility of the custom glass sink; the angularity of the lines contrasting with the softness of the curtains (seen in the mirror), the gentle curves of the faucet and sconces. The richness of the moldings, the color scheme, and the general restraint ensure that the room feels rich and timeless instead of busy.

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build