I need some help with drop ceilings and lighting.
I’m working on a house where we lowered the front room and entrance to match the ground floor. The ceiling in the front is at its min height, but it only reaches the top of the window, which is a tall 315 cm. The rest of the room is only 280 cm high.
Any ideas on how to design a drop ceiling that covers this difference without blocking the windows?
Thanks
Can you drop the ceiling in the middle of the room, while leaving the full height for a couple of feet in front of the windows?
Maybe add up-lighting strips around the drop, so it looks like you wanted the ceiling that way as a design feature?
Or - slope the edge of the drop from above the windows to the ceiling height. If the slope looks weird in the space, you could accent the lower edge with molding, lighting, etc., to draw the eye to the dropped part and not the slope.
Thanks for you Suggestions!
The client wants a drop ceiling border with a cut-out in the middle.
Is it acceptable for the ceiling to drop approximately 80 cm away from the window so that it doesn’t directly block the upper portion?
This is an interesting situation. As far as the practical side of things, you’re probably best off checking with an architect and/or builder as to the feasibility of that sort of ceiling height change in front of a window, and how much space you need to leave.
As far as the design aspect – that sort of up and down action reminds me of two types of ceilings: basements and attics.
In basements, you sometimes have pipes in the ceiling that have been enclosed with sheetrock to hide them. While the sheetrock looks better than the open pipes, the uneven ceiling is generally not design worthy, and therefore is usually painted in a way that makes the ceiling not as noticeable. In your case, the window height will make the ceiling noticeable, so trying to camouflage the drop would be challenging. You might be able to do it with a plain-ish valance of some sort on the top of the windows that blends in with the ceiling and blocks the top of the windows from view, and a different type of window treatment on the bottom (below the drop) that coordinates with the rest of the room and gets opened and closed.
In finished attics – or any space that is open to the roof – you sometimes have exposed rafters that are stained and varnished as a design feature. When properly done, the effect is beautiful. If you can highlight the dropped ceiling as a design feature (maybe coordinating the dropped part with molding around the central light fixtures or elsewhere), you may be able to pull it off. However, the way you have it drawn now, the drop is not the same width on all sides of the living room, and may look unbalanced if the entire drop is highlighted. (You could highlight the inner edge of the drops, because the higher-height rectangles over the dining room and living room are balanced beautifully.)
One other consideration: the different ceiling heights help to define the space and pull together the furniture below. Ideally, you would want the couch circle all under the same ceiling height or combination (i.e. either all under the higher height, or all with the backs under the drop and the front under the high ceiling, etc.). If one couch is under the higher ceiling and one under the drop, it would probably make the seating space feel a little disjointed – like the couches belong to different parts of the room, not to each other. Would you consider building a window seat in the bay area, and then centering the furniture under the higher-height part of the ceiling?
Hatzlocha!
