the DIY files: painted patterned ceiling

A couple nights ago I was at home by myself, vegging in front of the TV while surfing pinterest, and got a sudden burst of energy to paint our ceiling in our front hallway.

I was totally inspired by these patterned beauties:

sources (left to right): from here, here, here, and here

So I changed into my paint clothes, grabbed all the supplies from my stash of paint in the basement, and got to work. We haven’t done much (other than hang a few things) to our entryway since we moved in, so I was starting with a completely blank slate.

I loved the gray and white herringbone pattern posted above (top right), so since I had some light gray paint kicking around (and was starting with a white background), I decided to go with something pretty similar.

First step was to put a piece of tape down the exact center of the ceiling. Oh, you might be wondering why I didn’t take off our light to paint the ceiling. Replacing that old boob light is on the “to do” list – it’s ug-ug-ugly. When we do, I’m planning on putting up a medallion to add some architectural interest to the space. Since the medallion is going to be bigger than the boob (ha), I wasn’t worried about getting under the light fixture. Plus, the hubs wasn’t home and I didn’t want to get into removing the light by myself.

Now, back to the steps. I put down the first piece of tape down the center and then re-measured to get the half point between the middle piece of tape and the two side walls. On that half way point, I put down two more strips of tape. Once those two pieces were up, then I just added some tape along the wall edge to ensure a crisp paint line. So that’s 3 pieces on the ceiling all evenly distributed, and 2 along the wall edges.

Then I used a ruler and measured 10 inch increments along each piece of tape (except the two pieces that are masking off the wall). See those pencil marks on the tape?

Then I got out my tape again and stuck down the diagonal pieces. You match from one mark on one piece of tape, to the next mark on the second piece of tape. Does that make sense? Check out the pattern below and I think you’ll see what I mean. I also added the small dots of tape to remember that those were the sections I wasn’t going to paint (one painted, one not painted, and so on).

I didn’t care about having an exact herringbone pattern, so my tape is even throughout. If I had wanted a perfect herringbone, I would have needed to have the tape be on the inside of the line for the white rectangles. Frankly that just hurt my brain a little too much.

Then I got out my little sponge roller and painted.

I put on two coats of the gray, watched a few episodes of Home by Novogratz (anyone else love that show?!), and then went and peeled off the tape. And surprise surprise, it turned out really nicely! I was sort of expecting for this to not really turn out, since I did it on the fly in a couple of hours, but I am totally smitten with the results. Plus, it makes the room feel a whole lot taller.

Fun, right? I’m glad I went with the light gray — it feels fresh and airy.

Now to do something about that boob light. Hmm…

What about you guys? Ever painted a ceiling before? Doesn’t it transform the room? I now want to go and paint all the ceilings in our place..

Tags: chevron, gray and white, herringbone ceiling, painted ceiling, pattern ceiling

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 10:11 am and is filed under before & after, DIY projects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

40 comments on “the DIY files: painted patterned ceiling”

Alana on January 26, 2012 at 11:11 am said:

so cool!!! i love this!

ps don’t hate on the boob

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Katherine on January 26, 2012 at 8:00 pm said:

I like it! It looks even more fresh – modern – abstract since you didn’t go for the exact perfect herringbone! wow!

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gemma on January 29, 2012 at 8:59 pm said:

thanks katherine! i was a little worried about it not being “perfect” herringbone.. but luckily it worked out (love it when that happens)!

xo,
gem

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Shannon Sumemrs on January 27, 2012 at 11:56 am said:

Gemma! That design looks so effortless and awesome! Great jobs and perfect color choice!

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gemma on January 29, 2012 at 9:00 pm said:

thanks shannon!! i’m definitely happy I went with the lighter gray for sure..

xo,
gem

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Britt @ My. Daily. Randomness. on January 28, 2012 at 10:58 pm said:

WoW! I think that it looks great Gemma! Also, stopping by to say that it was great meeting you at the Meet-Up tonight! Hope you get home safe!

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Emily-Jane on January 29, 2012 at 3:32 pm said:

omg that looks so great! The scale and colour of the herringbone looks pefect in your entryway. Good job!

And it was great meeting you yesterday Gemma. I love blogging events because I get to find out about awesome blogs… like yours!

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gemma on January 29, 2012 at 8:55 pm said:

thanks, emily-jane! so so good meeting you yesterday!!

xo,
gem

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Kelly @ JAX does design on January 31, 2012 at 10:35 am said:

WOW! Your ceiling looks amazing! It actually creates the illusion that the ceiling is angled and not flat. Very cool!

I’ve painted a couple of the ceilings in our house – the living room ceiling is gold and the dining room ceiling is dark chocolate brown. Don’t like the process of painting a ceiling, but love the final results :-)

It was great meeting you and Tanya on Saturday :-) We should meet up sometime here in Ottawa to chat about decorating and blogging :-)

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Tanya from Dans le Townhouse on February 1, 2012 at 3:29 pm said:

Oooo, looks pretty! I have WANTED to do this but I have textured ceilings. Boo. But I want to try a stenciled wall or something. I have painted everything – everything – white because I like the “gallery” look but these patterned walls are starting to lure me over.

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Nadine on February 6, 2012 at 5:11 pm said:

It looks phenomenal! I can’t believe you did this on whim. Seriuosly, you need to have your own television show – your DIY skills never cease to blow me away.

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Erin on February 9, 2012 at 10:54 am said:

I just found your site and I love it. Your budget-friendly and DIY projects are so inspiring. This ceiling is great! It makes me want to tackle the ceiling in one of my rooms.

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gemma on February 9, 2012 at 10:58 am said:

Thanks Erin! Glad you’re inspired :) Ceilings are SO fun to paint and the results are really pretty amazing. I’m itching to do the rest of ours now too!

xo,
gem

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Peggy on February 21, 2012 at 6:07 pm said:

I really love the optical illusion that this creates! And it only took you a couple of hours? Amazing!

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gemma on February 21, 2012 at 8:51 pm said:

Thanks Peggy! Yes – it adds such fun to the entry way :)

xo,
gem

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Carrie on February 22, 2012 at 7:49 am said:

How wide is your ceiling.

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gemma on February 22, 2012 at 9:35 am said:

Hmm.. I can’t remember exactly! Without going and measuring, I would guess 3 feet wide by 7 feet long?

xo,
gem

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Teresa @ wherelovemeetslife on February 22, 2012 at 10:36 am said:

I love that you did this on the fly… it looks great!!!

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gemma on February 22, 2012 at 11:21 am said:

haha, thanks!!

xo,
gem

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Pam {simple details} on February 22, 2012 at 11:47 am said:

Wow, Gemma! It’s amazing, love the soft colors! Great job! I saw you over at Better After.

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gemma on February 22, 2012 at 12:01 pm said:

Thanks Pam! Yes – I’m really glad I went with the fairly muted, soft colours. The pattern is enough to make it punchy.

xo,
gem

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Vanessa Dawne on March 28, 2012 at 6:43 pm said:

Oooh, don’t you love those spur-of-the-moment projects that turn out absolutely stupendous?

Your ‘imperfect’ taping created the perfect abstract optical illusion that gives a sense of flow to your hallway — I love it!

Thanks for sharing — love your site & unique ideas.

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gemma on March 29, 2012 at 9:52 am said:

Thanks Vanessa!! It’s usually the projects where I don’t spend days/months thinking things through that end up being the best :)

xo,
gem

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Jena @ Involving Color and Home on April 2, 2012 at 4:33 pm said:

Hey Gemma! Your ceiling looks fantastic! I love the herringbone pattern and the soft gray and white colors were the perfect choice. Great job!

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gemma on April 2, 2012 at 4:55 pm said:

Thanks Jena! I’m pretty happy with how it turned out too :)

Thanks for popping by!

xo,
gem

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shannon/googiemomma on April 26, 2012 at 10:05 pm said:

gorgeous!!! i love it so much i may have to try it somewhere…(since you already know i’m not opposed to painting ceilings hehehe)

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gemma on April 27, 2012 at 9:37 am said:

thanks shannon!! i love, love, love your girls room. fabulous job!! looking forward to checking out more of your projects!

xo,
gemma

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Sarah on June 1, 2012 at 11:45 am said:

I love that ceiling so much! I so want to do a pattern on my kitchen ceiling. I just need to narrow down what I want. Congrats on being the CityLine blogger of the month!!

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gemma on June 1, 2012 at 3:13 pm said:

Thanks Sarah!! The ceiling is so much fun.. a total pop of pattern and colour where you would least expect it!

xo,
gemma

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how2home on August 2, 2012 at 1:24 pm said:

WOW! I’ve never seen this until now and its so great! Love this idea! Chevron is my favorite pattern so this is amazing. It gives depth and very creative pattern. Great job Gemma!

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jenn on March 8, 2013 at 10:20 am said:

I love this! Sounds like you and I work the same way as far as getting the itch to do something and just hopping up to do it! It looks so great, I’m trying to think of a space in my house that I can do something similar! Oh and I love Home by Novogratz too, I used to watch them when they were on Bravo (9 by design).

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gemma on March 8, 2013 at 10:38 am said:

You should do it!! Its one of those super fun projects that always makes me smile. Thanks Jenn!

xo,
gem

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