Several of my latest projects are located in upstairs spaces, areas where lower-angled ceilings often come into play. In these situations, there are usually lots of irregular angles that are caused by the framing of the roof. They create strange shapes that cut into the volume of space, and I find them very distracting.
So what to do? How does one treat these strangely-angled ceiling spaces?
Most of the time I'll wrap the wall finish, or wall color, up onto the angled-space, and then continue it onto the ceiling. This causes the lines and planes of all the different surfaces to disappear, making the room appear to expand and the ceiling seemingly lift off the space.
(Come back tomorrow for instances when I wouldn't treat a ceiling like this.)
See how, in the picture to the left, the white ceiling dramatically cuts into the space? Most of all, it causes you to notice the contrast between the white and turquoise wall color. Those irregular angles are accentuated and are very distracting, visually.
◆◆◆
Let's take a look at some beautiful spaces where this technique was used successfully.