In the design world, the ceiling is called the “5th Wall.” The ceiling can be interesting architecturally in a number of ways with beams, slopes, texture and lighting. Some of these architectural features are not great from a Feng Shui standpoint, such as exposed beams or sloped ceilings. But context is king as it does matter if the exposed beams are in a bedroom or a living room. How much time a person spends under the beams can influence how seriously we take them.
If a ceiling is oppressively low, that can be another deal breaker when choosing whether or not to live like that. When people paint a room, the “5th wall” can be the same color or something different, like any other vertical accent wall. In Feng Shui practice, we tend to prefer a ceiling that is lighter than the wall color, if not the same color. But there can be exceptions where a darker ceiling is fine. And this can include a very bright room with high ceilings.
From a feng shui angle, the ceiling can be a place to indulge in a color that might work as a weak elemental remedy. For example, if a room needed the water element and a real water feature was out of the question for some reason, the walls or ceiling could be painted blue to bring in a touch of the water energy.
People ask here and there if skylights are good or bad feng shui and the answer is that they can be very good when they allow a previously dark room to enjoy some natural light. Small skylights are not on the same scale as removing a whole ceiling, which might take place when a second story is added. So, in that regard, skylights cannot change the Period of a house.
Things can be applied to the ceiling as well. For example, many years ago I recommended that a client use the metal element in a room. When I returned to his home for an annual update, he was so excited to show me that he had put antique tin tiles on the ceiling (similar to the ones shown in the photo below). It was not so much that he had no room for metal within the room, but he was letting his inner-artist do something with the room that was both a Feng Shui remedy and also a design statement. Usually, I make a reference to having a certain amount of weight in a room when it comes to a metal quota. However, a lot of metal spread out over a big surface area can work as well.
Some people even put art on the ceiling and when the art is an image of the sky, it can open up a room and give it a dream like state. this can be done as an actual wall painting or even create the illusion with wall paper to look like a skylight, like the sky ceiling photo in this article. The dentist I used in my 20’s had sky and puffy white clouds painted on the ceiling and other whimsical images. It gave the patients a relaxing view while they were getting their teeth worked on.
Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®
From the Feng Shui Architectural and Design Blog Series
