Ceilings: How to paint sloped ceilings
01/07/2009 02:36 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
When it comes to ceilings, I have a fast and hard rule: It is not a ceiling if the ceiling line is not at a hard 90 degree ANGLE—it’s a folded wall. I see a square room like a box with 4 sides and 2 ends. There are 2 “horizontal” ends: your top end or ceiling and your bottom end or floor… along with 4 “vertical” sides: the walls.
If I have a flat ceiling, it is a “horizontal” end that can be painted the same color or painted a separate color from the 4 “vertical” sides, otherwise known as the walls in my box. A flat ceiling is like a floor upside down. More about that in my next ceiling blog. When a ceiling folds, bends, or slopes, the square box has now changed. There is no longer a 0 degree angle to stop and start a color and define a “side or an end”.
This is why, if there is a slope, the color must flow up or down the slope! It is all about the silhouette as my hero Tim Gunn would say. Here is a perfect example of what I am taking about.
Painting a sloped ceiling like you would a flat ceiling leaves the room with jagged edges. You can see in the example above, no matter how light the color is, the separation of “SOFT” angles between “sides” and “top end” makes the room have weird proportions…and all that cutting…forget it!
Why not make the room look long and lean by spreading the color up over “SOFT” folds, and extending the high visual look of the room? We humans have peripheral vision, so make the lines disappear and create a soft colorful space.
Same can be said in a room that has different ceiling heights. You have to take the highest ceiling height into consideration. Painting small chunks of flat ceiling only to have a big slope above is not worth your time “cutting in” or “cutting corners.”
We have wonderful colors that you can angle, slope and spread all over walls and ceilings. All you have to do is make it about color, your fall-in-love color!
Read How to use our Devine Palettes and use our Trend-proof Color Collection the way I suggest. LIke a color compass, you will see color connections that will lead you to your “perfect” color options.
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We just built a coach house above the garage that will be like a full apartment with a bedroom, kitchenette in the dormer area and bath in the other dormer. It has sloped ceilings in the main room going from around 6’ up to 10’ and center flat ceiling is 10’ by 23’ The kitchenette extends to the side in the dormer with it’s own sloped ceiling. I’m thinking about peanut for the walls and oak for the ceiling. What do you think? It only has one other window in the room that doesn’t get great light. Should I start the oak at the slope or only on the flat? Also the kitchen area gets the most light in the room. Should we keep the colors the same there? Any other color suggestions. We’re outside of Seattle in the foothills.
— Mary 03/18/2009 02:23 PM #
Mary:
I would do Peanut or Oak but no need to do both, it will look better as an overall look and then you can accent the kitchen area. For the kitchen accent the sky is the limit! Greens like Devine Green Tea, Moss, or Victoire should be stunning. Neutrals like Lion, cafe, or Bison can also do the trick. We the reds, blues, and purple choices as well… To really nail the colors that make your colors sing use our Trend-Proof Color Palette the way I suggest, you will find many rich and warm colors that will make your walls stunning surfaces. The Trend-Proof Color Palette will show you several color directions you will feel confident to follow.
— gretchen Schauffler 03/19/2009 11:18 AM #
Thanks so much for the advice. I wasn’t sure about changing the color somewhere cause I read somewhere that if the room is connected to leave it the same color. So I will go and check out those colors you mentioned. BTW, we think we will get cherry cabinets in the kitchen, as well as bath. So, if we do Oak or Peanut all over in the main area, don’t we lighten the flat ceiling part a bit since it will look darker, (1/4 or 1/2?) or is having it look darker the desired effect? Thanks again. I hope to hear soon, as my husband wants to paint tomorrow!!
— Mary 03/20/2009 11:00 PM #
Also, should the kitchen dormer sloped ceiling be the same as the walls in kitchen or in main room?
— Mary 03/20/2009 11:25 PM #
I went ahead and got Oat instead in delicate, once I held them up to the oak floor and to some colors we liked for the kitchen, mainly green tea. We’ll try this first before getting the green tea. On your example of how to use the color palette you have a swatch of oak floor and you wrote on there “too green” for the green tea. Maybe I’m taking it too literally and it just depends on the situation, as I’ll have cabinets up and it will be more of an accent color. Am I correct? I may go lighter on the cabinets, too, not sure. We don’t really have a lot of furnishings for this area so we are just trying to go with what looks nice in the light of this space first. We want to get the painting done before we put in the wood floors.
— Mary 03/21/2009 05:01 PM #
Mary you are right, that was just and example. Devine Oat looks beautiful with Devine Green Tea in a lot of homes. With what you have in the room, it sounds perfect! Send pictures!
— gretchen Schauffler 03/22/2009 11:02 AM #
Mary you are right, that was just an example I was giving. Devine Oat looks beautiful with Devine Green Tea in a lot of homes. It sounds perfect with what you have in the room! Also no need to lighten the color, let the folds and shadows do it naturally and remember to stop the color only at 90 degrees if you can. This means that if the wall slopes, slope the color along…:)
— gretchen Schauffler 03/22/2009 11:07 AM #
Thanks Gretchen. My husband will be happy cause he liked the Green Tea the best though i like the hazelnut or cafe and am thinking about hickory cabinets now. What do you think of those colors. You say to keep all your paint in either the warm or cool to make the wood stand out. I’m thinking oat is warm, not sure about the hazelnut? I may even like a red, any that you recommend? Thanks again.
— Mary 03/23/2009 02:38 PM #
Hi, we have a childs room with a dormer window and all sloped walls. Based on the information above, I think you are suggesting that we paint the whole space (walls and ceiling) the same colour is that correct? Is there anytime you would paint the inside of the dormer with a different colour for contrast and if so should it be darker or lighter than the wall/ceiling colour?
— Dana 03/24/2009 09:06 AM #
The reds I’m thinking of are Cayenne, Paprika, Cheetah and Orangutan. Red oak-natural/warm finish, ?hickory cabinets, oat walls and ceiling main room, med. tone woodwork. What do you think of any of these reds?
— Mary 03/24/2009 07:00 PM #
Dana:
You can accent the inside of the dormer with a color pop or whimsical color design (think polka-dots, stripes, stars), especially for a child’s room where color blocking and geometric patterns are fun for kids. In more adult sophisticated environments, folding wall color on to ceilings makes the room less choppy and softer.
— gretchen Schauffler 03/24/2009 07:16 PM #
Mary you have great ideas and both the greens and reds you are talking about all work together…and also work with Devine Oat. The most important decision is the choice between cool and warm “flow colors”, or the main color that will tie everything together. Once you choose the temperature of that main color, you can have warm and cool accent wall colors throughout the home. Given that Devine Oat is the “chosen” great flow color for your home, the rest is like choosing the perfect shirt colors!
— gretchen Schauffler 03/24/2009 07:22 PM #
Well, we decided on the green tea but cut the tint in 1/2 and it looks very nice. There is a lot of ceiling and a large wall space around the window and it seemed like it would be too much with the full green tea. It is still a great warm green.I still am thinking about putting one of those reds for the back of shelving around the t.v. maybe, like I saw in one of your pictures.
— Mary 03/30/2009 11:06 AM #
Hi there thatnks for the advise I have to paint 2 rooms and have sloped ceilings will be taking your advise
What color is the blue in the picture here? it is lovely!!
— karen 09/08/2009 09:59 AM #
I have a room in our new house that has sloped ceilings – I love the suggestion to paint the slopes too, but the ceiling portions of the room are done in a popcorn style finish. So I’m worried that if I continue the color up onto the angled “ceiling” portion that it will look odd due to the two different textures. Help!
— Emily 02/03/2010 10:03 PM #
Emily I get ya! But remember that different textures in different colors will make it worse :) SO pick one of our gorgeous colors, paint with our Devine POWDER Sheen (to absorb light and smooth over the different textures), and have a blast!
— Gretchen Schauffler 02/08/2010 10:50 AM #