Add some architectural drama to your home with an exposed ceiling. Here’s how to achieve the look
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Vaulted ceilings are a great way to bring height, drama and the feeling of space to a room. And as a design concept, it can work in both new builds, extensions and renovations. “A sense of openness is high on the wish list for homeowners and a vaulted ceiling is a way of answering that request,” explains Richard Gill, director of Paul Archer Design. “Clients often ask for ‘wow’ or character. Especially in a domestic setting, having a tall space that draws your eye up can provide the ‘wow’ with relative ease.”
Synonymous with barn conversions, vaulted ceilings often showcase exposed roof trusses. However, you can introduce exposed trusses into a contemporary build to help add character and warmth to the space.
“Exposed trusses are the structural element of a roof, most typically triangular but they do also come in other shapes and sizes,” says architectural designer and MD of PJT Design Ltd, Pete Tonks. “Exposed trusses can be made from many types of timber including Douglas fir, glulam (glued laminated timber) or oak; steel can also be used.” But vaulted ceilings don’t have to feature exposed trusses or rafters —ceilings can be opened up to the roof line but trusses/rafters can be boarded over to create a full-height pitch instead — a great option if you want to incorporate a mezzanine level or a bank of rooflights.
Here are some design ideas and considerations to make when it comes to creating a ‘wow-factor’ vaulted ceiling.
1 Plan from the start
“Vaulted ceilings can be a fairly tricky thing to pull off, especially while extending or opening up an existing space,” says Homebuilding & Renovating assistant editor Amy Reeves. “If done incorrectly, the sense of visual interest will be hampered by dark corners and inappropriate scales. There’s also a lot to consider from a build perspective; this is a feature that needs planning from the outset.”
Matt Loader, director of Loader Monteith Architects, agrees: “There are so many different considerations on how you make your ceiling, but we generally start with how we want the inside to look and feel. Then we get into the technical considerations. The
