Many two-story homes have angled walls and slanted ceilings that are inherent in rooms beneath the peaked roofline. While slanted walls can create a snug and cozy feel, the negative effects can include a choppy visual plane and difficulty placing furniture and art.
My Nashville clients were in desperate need of a master bedroom makeover. As recent empty nesters, the couple wanted an upstairs space that was all their own. One of the things we needed to address in this room were the angled walls and slanted ceilings. Because the “ceilings” come down so far into the room, painting them white gives the impression that the ceiling is lower than it actually is. Here is the bedroom before:
before
We chose a sandy wall color to brighten the space and to act as the backdrop for the blues and creams we wanted for the new color scheme. Instead of leaving the ceiling white, we wrapped the sand color onto both the slanted angles and uppermost part of the ceiling. Here’s what might surprise you: when you paint your ceiling the same color as your walls (providing that there is no crown molding between the wall and ceiling), the ceiling color will appear a half shade lighter than the wall color. So it looks as though you’ve painted the ceiling a half a shade lighter, while it is actually the same color as the walls. The result? A ceiling that appears higher and a room that feels bigger because it’s no longer visually dissected by the white ceiling that started two-thirds of the way up.
One of the first things we chose for this room was this beautiful blue upholstered bed with brass nailhead detailing. The pair of chests on either side are much better choice than the typical small end tables that we often see in typical bedrooms. The scale of these are so much nicer for a queen- or king- size bed, plus they provide lots of storage for reading material and clothing.
Here’s a before shot from the opposite side of the room facing back towards the entry. The room you see beyond was converted into a fabulous closet as a part of the upstairs renovation.
before
The finished design is a sophisticated and peaceful space with a large walk-in closet opposite the entry. The entire upstairs is now a private master suite, so using french doors on the closet is not an issue, and it allows more natural light from the window in the new closet to flow into the master bedroom.
We brought in gold accents in this fabulous floor lamp and side table for the new reading corner.
I love the shape of this chair. And the fabric? FORGET ABOUT IT! It is so gorgeous, I could just eat it up.
Here’s another before shot. You can see how low the slanted ceilings come into the space. It looks all kinds of dreary, really.
before
The higher headboard and the continuation of the wall paint onto the angled ceiling makes the room feel so much better, right?
The gold accents continue with the circular mirror that dresses out a previously awkward angled wall.
And these fabulous lamps? We originally bought these for the entryway, but found they looked even better in the bedroom! The rectangular shades fit nicely against the wall, and the curved sculptural bases of the lamps soften the angles of the room, as does the gold mirror I just showed you.
Would you believe these lamps are from HomeGoods??? They were a great score!
We mixed the bedding for a custom look. The symmetry of this arrangement creates a serene and comfortable place to sleep.
The master bathroom was also renovated during this time, requiring the door to move several feet to the right. We found a beautiful piece of art that my client really loved at a local home furnishing store.
The last piece of the puzzle was this uber-cool wood ottoman. Would you believe I found this at HomeGoods? I would have purchased another if there had been one. It’s truly beautiful.
Oh, and I almost forgot. Rather than choosing a typical beige, I chose a soothing gray-blue patterned carpet for the flooring in the entire upstairs master suite.
My work here is done! Hopefully you can see how the choice of painting the walls and slanted ceilings the same color really paid off. Literally. They paid me good money for this. 😉
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