Top It Off: Wallpapered Ceilings Take the Eye High

Wallpaper’s moment may indeed be over — because it’s starting to look more like a wallpaper decade. What might have appeared to be a fleeting love affair seems as if it may be here to stay. And just when you thought you’d seen wallpaper installed in every possible way, now it’s migrating north — as in, to the ceiling.

Interior designer Emily Mughannam of EM Design Interiors and others consider the ceiling the fifth wall — so why not decorate it as you would the other four?

In this room, Mughannam felt that using a bold pattern in a controlled space was a smart move. “The wallpaper was so busy, I thought it would be good to have the eye candy up high,” she says. “It makes the experience in the room much more interesting.”


In this bathroom the designers felt some separation was needed between paper and stone. “We wanted to use the pattern of the wallpaper for interest, but we didn’t want it to compete with the natural beauty of the stone,” says Katelyn Grooms of Siemasko + Verbridge.

She adds that when considering wallpaper overhead, size is an important consideration. “The paper we chose was smaller in scale for the small powder room,” she says. “It’s also nondirectional, which doesn’t take away from the lines already created in the architecture.”

It’s one thing to cover a high ceiling in a print — that can actually humanize a lofty space. But this room has a closer-to-earth ceiling plane, which might give less adventurous homeowners pause. Never fear. “Because the background of the paper is light in color, it does not make the ceiling appear any lower than it would if just painted white,” Grooms says. “The ceiling is a great place to try paper — especially for those who have been afraid to use it before.”


The living separately concept works beautifully in this room, by designer Elizabeth Gordon.

If they had been placed together, the pattern of the screens and the pattern of the wallpaper might have looked as uncomfortable as Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin did when attending events together just before their conscious uncoupling.

The conscious decision to have the decorative elements split by pale blue walls allows each element to shine.


For this writer — who, in full disclosure, sleeps beneath a wall covering of clouds designed by Fornasetti — there’s something that makes inherent sense about a wallpapered ceiling in the bedroom. After all, unless you are napping on the sofa, where else can you recline and look at the ceiling?

Apparently, Ivonne Ronderos of DKOR Interiors agrees. She says that in this modern house, the design decision was to keep the wall planes clean and white while adding color, texture and pattern on several ceilings.

“Be bold, and don’t be so safe all the time,” she advises. “Take a risk and stick with it — not too many risks in one room, but at least something that is playful.”


There’s no question that the wallpaper installed in this bedroom by interior designer Erin Martin and SB Architects warms the space. To gauge its impact, just cover the top part of the photo with your hand and then quickly remove it. The life it adds is undeniable.


In this homework center, interior designer Annsley McAleer of Annsely Interiors wanted to add color in a small space whose walls are nearly covered by cabinetry and windows. “We needed more green and more interest,” she says. “I think using a wallpaper with a lighter background actually lifts the ceiling and draws your eye up.”

McAleer says that since a ceiling usually has less square feet than four walls, covering the space above a room can be a big impact for less money. “I think wallpapering a ceiling is always a little unexpected and can be easy on the budget,” she says.

More:
11 Reasons to Paint Your Ceiling Black
See more ways with wallpaper
Browse wallpaper swatches in the Houzz Products section

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