Ceiling at the Baccarat Crystal Museum - Paris

Gold Ceiling at St. Mark's Cathedral, Venice

Wood Library Ceiling at The Hermitage - St. Petersburg, Russia

Ceiling at the Doge's Palace - Venice

Ceiling at Doge's Palace (Venice)

Recently I’ve been noticing and admiring decorative ceilings – the photos above are from trips to Paris, Italy, and Russia where I saw a more notable use of decorating ceilings in these historic palace interiors.  So after admiring the interior design of these palaces, I’m determined to use decorative ceilings to create additional interest and intrigue in the rooms I design.  And I’m not talking about faux paintings of clouds – eek – I’m thinking of gold gilding, patterns, and wallpapers to draw your eye in a sophisticated way.

A couple months ago I completed an interior for a nursery where we wallpapered the ceiling – it took the design to a whole new level (photos to come before long).  After noticing all these beautiful ceilings it made me think, “Why are so many ceilings so boring!”  Out with the white, and in with the gold gilding and molding!  Hope you find these wild ceilings inspirational, and they push you to use all your surfaces as an opportunity to express yourself!  Personally, my favorites are the portrait-filled ceiling at the Doge’s palace in Venice and the pink and gold gild ceiling from Versaille.  What’s yours?