If you are planning an interior painting project for your Northern Virginia home, you probably have spent a great deal of time looking at paint chips and selecting a color scheme for your walls and trim. But what about your ceiling? Ceilings are the largest space in a room, but they are often overlooked when considering a change in décor.

Odds are, your ceiling is painted eggshell white. That’s the color and finish the contractor probably used when the house was new. If you have repainted since then, white was probably your color of choice. There’s nothing wrong with white. It lets natural light bounce around the room but doesn’t reflect glare from lighting fixtures.

But it’s white. Kind of bland and non-descriptive.

You’d think the biggest painted space in a room would have more influence on a room’s appearance.

Actually, it can.

Introducing the Fifth Wall

With nearly two decades of providing professional painting services to residential and commercial customers all across Northern Virginia, award winning, Reston-based All American Painting Plus has extensive experience in turning ceilings into something special.

For example, check out the photos above. In this instance the builder placed a decorative grid on the ceiling to give it a unique look and texture. But the whole thing was painted white. Our professional painters added color to the grid and suddenly the ceiling, and with it the whole room, took on a new, vibrant look. Results like this are not uncommon when the same thought and consideration that goes into the décor of the rest of the room goes into the ceiling.

It’s a concept known as “The Fifth Wall” that brings ceilings into the overall decorating plan. Ceilings can easily be transformed from a flat white space into an exciting or complimentary element in the overall décor. Designers are limited only by their imagination when integrating the ceiling into a decorating plan.

Some examples of fifth wall applications include:

  • If a ceiling appears to be too high because of the scale of the furniture, it can be “lowered” simply by painting it darker.
  • Your ceiling can easily become your accent wall.
  • Extend the color of the ceiling about 9 inches down the walls. This will give a room a uniquely cozy atmosphere.

If this concept interests you, give us a call and we will be happy to share our ideas.

Ceilings are not DIY Projects

Painting ceilings can be significantly more demanding physically and involve risks not associated with painting walls. For starters, there is going to be some ladder work involved and as All American Painting Plus founder Brian McCracken says, “The one paying the bills should not be up on the ladder.”

Aside from balancing on a ladder, the painter is looking up and moving. That’s not a problem in new construction where there is no carpet to worry about and no furniture to dodge. But in a family home, whoever is doing the painting is going to be looking up while negotiating furniture and walking on carpet-protecting drop cloths.

This is not how you want to spend your weekend.

Leave it to the professional painting specialists at Northern Virginia’s premiere residential painting contractor All American Painting Plus. Give us a call today and let’s put some life into that white ceiling of yours.