Trim Ideas for 8' Ceilings

Crown Molding

• One way to make the ceiling seem higher is to make the walls seem taller. Avoid high baseboards and deep crown molding on walls that are eight feet tall. These elaborate wood trims are lovely in grand, older homes with soaring ceilings, but in rooms with eight-foot ceilings, they shrink the height of the wall and bring the ceiling down. In a room with a low ceiling, a crown molding no more than three inches deep finishes the corner between the wall and the ceiling without taking up valuable visual space. Dentil molding, with its vertical lines, keeps the eye moving upward instead of stopping at the crown.

Painted Trim

• Shiny, white painted wood trim never goes out of style, and white door casings, baseboards and window trim can create a crisp contrast with the wall colors in a room. However, in a room with eight-foot ceilings, don't paint the crown molding white unless the walls are also white. Instead, to make a room seem larger and the ceiling seem higher, paint the walls, the crown molding and the ceiling the same light, neutral color. This monochromatic trick blends the point where the vertical surface of the wall turns into the horizontal surface of the ceiling and can make wood trim look as if it were carved out of plaster. Go ahead and use white paint on door and window trim and baseboards, but stick to one color for the walls, crown and ceiling.

Skylights

• If you own your home and can make modifications to it, a skylight is the ultimate ceiling trim. Skylights brings light, height and a sense of spaciousness into a room, and they provide views of sky, clouds and stars. Advances in technology have transformed skylights from ugly plastic domes to clear, framed windows in the roof that open and close. Optional treatments for skylights include blinds that operate by remote control and energy-efficient coatings that reduce fading from bright sunlight.

Open Beams

• In a basement room or a room on the first floor of a two-story house, removing the drywall from an 8eight-foot ceiling and exposing the beams overhead adds instant height. In an older home, exposed wood grain on beams can give a room character. Paint newer, composite wood ceilings or ceilings with exposed ductwork white to give the room a modern, industrial look. Converting a drywall ceiling to a painted, open-beam ceiling requires some home improvement skill, but many homeowners can handle this project themselves.