Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Friday 28 February 2020
RIGHT AT HOME: Ceilings with something to say

By KIM COOK ent leather on the ceiling.
Associated Press In the same home, Cole-
The ceiling — sometimes man installed a series of
referred to as a room’s fifth architectural wood beams
wall — often gets short shrift across the ceiling in both
in decorating schemes. the dining area and a bath-
Walls and furnishings take room, giving the spaces a
center stage while the Japanese country-house
acreage overhead re- vibe.
ceives a coat of neutral In a Roxbury, Connecticut,
white paint, with perhaps a country home, designer
snazzy ceiling fixture. Philip Gorrivan ran wall-
That wasn’t the case histori- paper up the walls and
cally. Plaster ornamenta- across the ceilings in sever-
tion and murals were used al rooms, including a Cole
centuries ago, and the Vic- & Son’s Fornasetti leaf print
torians really went to town in the dining room and a
on the ceiling, with elabo- storm-cloud print called Nu-
rate moldings and stamped volette, also by Fornasetti,
tin sheeting. Ceiling medal- in a boy’s room. Wrapping
lions graced more formal rooms in strong patterns like
spaces like dining rooms this creates drama, and
and parlors, while timber in nurseries and childrens’
beams and tongue-and- This undated photo shows a ceiling design by Gideon Mendelson, founder of Mendelson Group, rooms can spark imagina-
groove boards were popu- in a Westchester County, N.Y., home. Associated Press tion.
lar in kitchens, bedrooms Smooth-finished ceilings
and common spaces. space.” make it easy to apply
Through the early 20th cen- For one client in the New whatever you can dream
tury, curvy coving, paneled York suburbs, he’d been up: paint, peel and stick or
grids and ornate moldings tasked with creating a clas- traditional wallpapers, or
were popular. sic white kitchen, but he even ornamentation like
But with the advent of wanted to add some per- origami, decals, buttons,
modernism after the 1930s, sonality. faux jewels, botanicals,
ceilings became the se- “The client loved checks twigs, garlands, ribbon,
rene planes most of us are and plaids, so a decorative stencils or scarves.
familiar with. painter painted a green Command strips will hold
Now we’re looking up checkered design on a most lightweight objects
again. Designers are really canvas and then installed firmly to a smooth ceiling,
getting creative with archi- it on the ceiling. The color but if you’re stuck with one
tectural elements, as well matches the green on the of those textured ceilings,
as paint, wallpaper and kitchen island, so it ties the you’ll either have to refinish
lighting. room together and makes it or opt for wood paneling
“Statement ceilings are the space feel that much or tin sheets.
a great way to bring de- more special.” Not ready to fully dress your
tail and visual interest to a The positive reaction to ceiling? You can still add
room,” says Gideon Men- that ceiling spurred Men- some excitement there
delson, founder and cre- delson’s team to include with a light fixture.
ative director of his New them in other projects. “We “A ceiling statement
York-based eponymous quickly realized how im- doesn’t have to involve
design group. ``We see pactful and powerful they complicated architectural
them as an opportunity to can be. It immediately details,” points out Leigh
create something unex- makes the space feel like Spicher, design studio
pected that adds to the one-of-a-kind. In almost director for the Atlanta-
based homebuilding group
This image released by DKC/O&M shows the cast of “To Kill
a Mockingbird” on stage after a special performance for stu- Ashton Woods. “It can also
dents at Madison Square Garden in New York on Wednesday, be created by adding a
Feb. 26, 2020. chandelier that contrasts in
Associated Press either style or scale to the
every project we do now, As well as millwork and wall- room.”
there’s some ceiling treat- paper, Mendelson’s done Sometimes an unexpected
ment.” custom hand-painting on bonus comes from creating
He turned traditional Tudor ceilings. a statement ceiling. Chris
style on its ear in another “It sets it apart from the rest Coleman remembers a
project by creating a mod- of the home, and gives the project in Manhattan a few
ern design made of oak for space its own personality,” years ago, in a 39th floor
the ceiling. And in a Hamp- he says. apartment: “The husband
tons retreat, faux-wood Miami interior designer said what do we do with
wallcovering from the Christopher Coleman had the ceiling?
French firm Nobilis added a some fun with a child’s And I said lacquer it, and
This photo provided by Ashton Woods shows a residential bed-
room with a painted beam ceiling in the Ashton Woods Ridge- beachy feel to the ceiling, bedroom in Coral Gables, they were so ecstatic when
field Farms community in Raleigh, N.C. punctuated with fresh Lilly Florida, putting a deliciously they saw the yellow taxis re-
Associated Press Pulitzer-esque green paint. glossy deep pink Stark pat- flected in the ceiling.”q