I have a love affair with ceiling beams, I really do, so I’m super excited that our main room, my new studio and office space, as well as our master bedroom, are lined with ceiling beams. It’s unfortunate though, that downstairs, they’ve all been painted from their original dark stain to a taupe color, which I’m not too fond of. The master ceiling including the beams are all white, and I think I’ll leave them that way but I’m not sure which way to go with the beams downstairs.
The main room of focus is the great room, which is the only living room with an open kitchen. I’d love to see these beams in their original dark stained and raw glory but I fear stripping the paint on each will be far more work than just painting over them. A dark chocolatey brown may suffice but I love the sort of weathered beachy gray look as well. I’ll have to achieve that with paint rather than getting the real deal as well.
I may just go with a solid white in my studio but I’m also thinking a glossy black would be a nice contrast, I just wonder if it will be too distracting visually and compete with the room rather than add to it.
Here are some of my favorite beamy rooms from around the internet…
Dark beams with a blue ceiling via Linum
Natural wood beams via Keystone projects.
Multi-color panels with light beams via NY Times
Weathered gray beams via Elements of Style
Gray beams on dark wood ceiling
White ceiling and beams via Desire to Inspire
dark stained beams via Lonny Nov/12 {same source for #1 as well}
I’d love to hear your opinions on beams. Do you live with dark beams and find them distracting? Or do you love them? Do you have a rustic look or a painted finish? Do you know a way I can get a rustic look without stripping them to their natural state? Or is stripping them the easier route? And what about contrasting colors on the ceiling and beams?
* Find photos of our new house for reference here {scroll down a bit}
* You can find many of these and more on my Lake House Ideas & Decor pinboard.
