The ceiling is so often regarded as a tabula rasa fit only for painting in shades of white. It has been my mission over many years to engage with the ceiling and demonstrate what a dramatic contribution it can make to the dynamics of the decoration.
I have collated a few samples from my archives as described below.
Wallpapers are not only for walls!
In this room both ceiling and frieze were wallpapered with Zoffany "Veranda trellis" from Sanderson design group, no small challenge to the decorator who had to relate the opposing surfaces without compromising the integrity of the design; succesfully by common consent.
This lofty ceiling in the area of an ensuite housing the bath was hung with the wallpaper used on the walls elsewhere in the bathroom but differentiated from the basic stripes by picking out the diagonals with a single stripe from the same paper. A final coating of matt varnish sealed it from the effects of water vapour.
In the inner area of my studio I applied this Arts and Crafts inspired design from Casamance from the collection of the same name, "Golden crown". The non-woven base paper comes as two drops of 2 metres long and 1 metre wide, perfect for this small surface area but capable of being applied to any reasonable size of ceiling by extending the plain ground colour with paint or framing the perimeter with a simple printed frieze.
Here the ceiling is decorated with a geometric wallpaper exactly colour coordinated with the stripes on the wall, both products of Larsen by Colefax & Fowler.
Here the ceiling, as you walk beneath it, gives the impression the clouds are gently wafting in the breeze. This was supplied by Jane Gordon Clark at Ornamenta and used again but differentiated by the application of flights of swallows hand-painted by Lincolnshire artist Rosie Coutts and cut from her workbook and retro fitted.
Hand-painted Ceilings
This image is of a Gothick rectory ceiling in three sections, divided by pierced spandrels, of which this is one hand-painted by the aforementioned artist Rosie Coutts inspired by the form of the architecture and by the "Nowton" wallpaper by Cole & Son shown here in a bespoke colour way.
This rural converted church had been finished with lowered and unadorned ceilings which we decorated with this complex and multi-layered stencil to suggest strapwork ornamentation in colours echoing the floor tiles below.
Stretched fabric ceilings
In this rural guest bedroom we went for stretched fabric walling and drapery in the same fabric by Manuel Canovas and we used the figured curtain lining for a pleated tented ceiling.