How to Light Your Ceiling Right
Discover the best lighting techniques to highlight 9 common ceiling features
1. Beams and coffers. Traditional ceilings with coffers or beams add beauty to what is commonly just white sheets of drywall. The extra effort in trim and millwork can really shine when properly illuminated. Historically, lighting professionals used linear low-voltage lighting to illuminate beams and coffers, but today linear LED tape light is a great way to easily hide light in custom trim pieces. The soft, gentle glow on the ceiling bounces back down into the rest of the room.
2. Trusses. Exposed trusses are most commonly found in traditional homes, timber-framed retreats, warehouse lofts and modern escapes. Whether steel or wood, trusses easily become a feature of the space and can be cleverly illuminated to make them shine at night.
Concealing light sources within the truss itself can draw attention to the structural beauty, and grazing each side with spotlights, as in the space above, can reveal the natural hand-hewn craftsmanship of trusses.
Learn the Language of Trusses in Design
Concealing light sources within the truss itself can draw attention to the structural beauty, and grazing each side with spotlights, as in the space above, can reveal the natural hand-hewn craftsmanship of trusses.
Learn the Language of Trusses in Design
3. Coves. Illuminated ceiling coves or tray ceilings are one of my favorite details as a lighting designer. They can be added to most ceilings, even in homes with 8-foot ceilings, and when properly illuminated they can transform a space into something radiant and sophisticated.
Find a designer to help you plan your lighting
Find a designer to help you plan your lighting
Designing the cove itself can be a bit tricky, as you want to conceal the light source, eliminate any “diode shadows” or dark spots and place the light source so it shines out onto the ceiling as much as possible. I often build a mockup that can be adjusted until the detail is just right. The extra work is worth it: A well-done ceiling cove adds usable light to a home and elevates the design.
4. Shelf. Light shelves are similar to cove or tray lights, but they are usually larger and hung lower. It can be easier to get good indirect light from a shelf, because the extra distance between the ceiling and light source allows light to spread out more evenly. This means you can often use brighter lights, which in turn add more ambient light to the room. An added benefit is that the light is nearly shadow-free, making it easier to see what you are doing as you live in the home.
5. Crown. When you do not have room for shelves or coves, illuminated crown molding can be an excellent way to brighten your ceiling without calling too much attention to the drywall.
The tiny size of LED tape light makes it easier than ever to conceal lighting strips inside custom multipiece trims.
Browse strip lighting
The tiny size of LED tape light makes it easier than ever to conceal lighting strips inside custom multipiece trims.
Browse strip lighting
6. Floating planes. What is better than one ceiling cove? Two of them, of course. Overlapping ceiling planes, which lighting pros often call floating ceilings, provide an excellent opportunity to conceal lighting and add drama to a space. The effect can be decidedly modern and calls attention to the overlap and craftsmanship of the ceiling.
7. Reveals. When ceilings stop just short of the walls, leaving a gap where crown molding would live, a special kind of floating plane is created. The gaps, which designers call reveals, are great places to conceal lighting that can graze down the walls and call attention to the extra effort that went into the ceiling. When done well, the effect can mimic skylights and turn what is often the least noticeable area of a ceiling into a real feature.
8. Recessed slots. With today’s advances in LED technology, tiny slots can be added to ceilings to recess glowing lines of light into otherwise flat ceilings. The effect is similar to ceiling coves, but without sacrificing any ceiling height. Here, the glowing recessed slots help define and separate the kitchen, living and dining areas in an open-plan space, adding further character to the home.
9. Luminous. If the weather were always sunny, the temperature always 72 and bugs didn’t exist, we could skip the ceiling altogether and open up to the sky. Since this idealized living situation is highly unlikely, we have luminous ceilings that can mimic the effect of open skies.
These glowing ceilings are extremely popular in commercial architecture today, and it makes sense that we are seeing more of them in homes too. Whether created as a continuous diffused skylight or made of translucent glass back-lit with LED panels, a luminous ceiling creates a dramatic statement in any home.
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Creative Ceilings Take Rooms to New Heights
Find an architect to integrate lighting into your design
These glowing ceilings are extremely popular in commercial architecture today, and it makes sense that we are seeing more of them in homes too. Whether created as a continuous diffused skylight or made of translucent glass back-lit with LED panels, a luminous ceiling creates a dramatic statement in any home.
More
Creative Ceilings Take Rooms to New Heights
Find an architect to integrate lighting into your design
Ceilings are also a good location to add ambient lighting, but each kind of ceiling feature calls for a different approach. Here are nine common ceiling styles and lighting solutions that help you get the most out of them.