How to Make 8-Foot Low Ceilings Look Taller: 13 Designer Tricks We Use
One of the questions I get asked more than almost any other is: “Wait… your ceilings are only 8 feet?”
Especially lately after our living room fandelier went viral.
The number one comment I keep seeing is, “Would that work with my 8-foot ceilings?”
The funny thing is… it already does.
Our house was built in the 1960s, and every ceiling in our home is the standard 8 feet tall. Yet many people assume they’re 9 or even 10 feet because of a handful of decorating tricks we’ve used throughout our renovations over the years.
So the goods news is you don’t have to raise your roofline or knock down walls to make a room feel taller. With a few intentional design choices, you can completely change how your eye experiences a space.
These are the exact tricks we’ve used throughout our home to make our ceilings feel much taller than they actually are.
1. Color Drench the Entire Room
One of my favorite design trends lately is color drenching: painting the walls, trim, doors, and ceiling all the same color.
Instead of your eye stopping at the line where the wall meets the ceiling, the color continues uninterrupted, creating the illusion of height.
We’ve used this technique in our primary bedroom, dining room, and our girls’ bathroom, and each room instantly felt more expansive and elevated.
It’s cozy, dramatic, and somehow makes a room feel both more intimate and larger at the same time.
2. Wallpaper the Ceiling
This one completely surprised me.
When we wallpapered the ceiling in our media room, I expected the room to feel cozier.
Instead, it actually felt taller.
The wallpaper transformed the ceiling into an intentional design feature instead of something your brain automatically ignores. When your eye is naturally drawn upward, the room suddenly feels more spacious.
Don’t be afraid to think of your ceiling as the “fifth wall.” Sometimes it’s the perfect place to add personality.
3. Paint the Ceiling a Soft Accent Color
White ceilings aren’t your only option.
In our younger girl’s bedroom, we painted the ceiling a soft dusty pink.
Rather than making the room feel shorter, the unexpected color actually draws your eye upward. It turns the ceiling into a beautiful focal point instead of letting it disappear into the background.
It’s subtle, whimsical, and makes the room feel much more custom.
4. Add Tongue & Groove to the Ceiling
One of the biggest transformations we’ve ever made was adding tongue and groove planks to our upstairs hallway ceiling.
The ceiling immediately looked taller and more architecturally interesting. (And bonus points… it made our attic door disappear from view.)
We loved it so much that we eventually installed tongue and groove on our living room ceiling too.
The long boards naturally guide your eye across the ceiling, creating a sense of movement that makes the room feel larger overall.
5. Cover an Ugly Ceiling with Beadboard
Our laundry room ceiling was… let’s just say it wasn’t exactly attractive.
Rather than spending days patching and sanding, we covered it with beadboard.
Not only was it a much faster solution, but the linear texture helped create the illusion of more height.
Sometimes fixing an eyesore ends up becoming one of your favorite design features. (Not to mention, it was way faster and less work than patching drywall.)
6. Hang Curtains High and Wide
If you’ve been here for a while, you’ve probably heard me say this before.
Always hang your curtain rods close to the ceiling and extend them several inches beyond each side of the window.
This simple trick makes both your windows and your ceilings appear much larger.
I honestly can’t think of an easier way to make a room feel taller.
And yes… we do this in every single room of our house.
Related: The Best Luxury For Less Amazon Curtains
7. Choose Larger Wall Art
Small artwork tends to emphasize just how much empty wall surrounds it.
Larger artwork does exactly the opposite.
Instead of filling your walls with lots of little frames, choose one or two oversized pieces whenever possible (like this old tapestry I hung above my office sofa).
The larger scale creates a stronger vertical presence and makes the proportions of the room feel much grander.
8. Choose Lower-Profile Furniture
This trick has nothing to do with your ceiling itself.
It’s all about perspective.
Lower sofas, beds, and chairs leave more visible wall above them, making your ceilings appear taller by comparison. Although, that might be tough to do if you or other members of your household are over 6′ tall.
Robert and I are both about 5’7″, so we’ve naturally gravitated toward lower-profile furniture over the years. It’s one of those subtle design choices that makes a big difference.
9. Hang Tall Mirrors
When we renovated our primary bathroom, we intentionally chose tall vanity mirrors that nearly reached the crown molding.
Instead of breaking up the wall, they emphasized the full height of the room.
Mirrors already help reflect light and make spaces feel larger. Choosing taller mirrors amplifies that effect even more.
10. Add Vertical Lines
Vertical stripes don’t just make people appear taller, they work on rooms too.
When we helped makeover two girls’ bedrooms for our neighbors, we used vertical striped wallpaper in their bunk room and faux vertical shiplap in the other bedroom.
Both bedrooms instantly felt taller.
Any design element that naturally encourages your eye to travel upward helps create the illusion of height.
11. Take Cabinets and Bookcases All the Way to the Ceiling
One of my biggest decorating pet peeves is seeing cabinets or bookcases stop a foot below the ceiling.
That awkward empty space almost always makes ceilings feel lower. (And that could have been more storage!)
When we built our IKEA media room built-ins, we extended everything flush to the ceiling.
Not only does the room feel taller, but we gained a ton of extra storage.
That’s what I call a win-win.
12. Add Crown Molding
Many people assume crown molding makes ceilings feel shorter.
I’ve actually found the opposite to be true.
Adding crown molding gives the room a polished, finished look while emphasizing the transition between the walls and ceiling. It adds architectural interest that naturally draws your eye upward.
Whenever we’ve renovated a room that didn’t have crown molding, adding it has always been worth the effort.
13. Hang Your Shower Curtain All the Way to the Ceiling
One of the easiest ways to make a small bathroom feel taller is to hang an extra long shower curtain much higher than the shower itself.
In our girls’ bathroom, we installed the curtain rod just below the crown molding and used an extra-long shower curtain that stretches nearly from floor to ceiling.
Just like hanging curtains high over windows, this trick draws your eye upward and instantly makes the room feel taller. As a bonus, it also makes an inexpensive shower curtain look much more custom and luxurious.
It’s a small change that has a surprisingly big impact in bathrooms with standard 8-foot ceilings.
So Can You Use a Fandelier with an 8-Foot Ceiling?
Absolutely. Our living room is proof.
The trick isn’t necessarily having a taller ceiling. It’s creating the illusion of height with everything surrounding the light fixture.
When you combine several of these ideas like high curtain rods, oversized artwork, tongue and groove ceilings, crown molding, and lower-profile furniture, your eye perceives the room as much taller than it actually is.
That’s why so many people are surprised to learn our ceilings are only 8 feet.
Final Thoughts
If your home has standard 8-foot ceilings, don’t let that stop you from creating rooms that feel spacious and beautifully designed.
Our entire house has 8-foot ceilings, and after more than a decade of renovating one room at a time, I’ve learned that your eye is surprisingly easy to fool.
You certainly don’t need to use every idea on this list.
Even incorporating two or three of these tricks can completely change how your rooms feel.
Sometimes great design isn’t about changing your home’s architecture. It’s about changing the way people experience it.
More Ways to Trick The Eye in Decorating
- 23 Clever Small Room Ideas to Make a Space Look Bigger
- 30 Ways to Make Your House Look Expensive on a Budget
- 14 Tricks to Make a Small Bathroom Look Bigger
