Put silver tea paper or Farrow and Ball's Borrowed Light on the ceiling.

have the ceiling and walls been skimmed yet/ if not,i would seriously consider raising the money and raising the ceiling,you might have to l ive with the mess for a while longer,but i really think it is the best thing,as this will not be solved by a paintcolor...(sorry,but it would drive me round the bend!!)

HI -- I would say to go ahead and change it if you can find the money . You could keep the ceiling and the walls the same color ... or..... you could put a border of mirror on the top of the walls but that will cost a lot and that could be money best spent on changing the ceilings to the extra height . You will forever regret not doing that in the first place ... right ?

Well, some decisions we do live to regret! Are you sure you want to proceed with this while you still have time? Is there any way that a cove ceiling could be done to give you the illusion of height if the whole thing can't be raised? If not I would paint the walls and ceiling all the same color( light).

Oh dear! Just noticed the big old carrying beam in the middle! Well, I guess paint it is:(

i guess paint it is :( i'll check with my contractor if something else can be done at this point. I didn't think it will bother me so much and realized only after they put up the drywalls :(

once the seams are taped and the walls are painted it will feel larger than it does now.

Pictures of my living room as well: Ideally I would have preferred long, ceiling to floor curtain panels here to make ceiling appear taller. But because here the heaters are under the windows , I opted for light and airy curtain valances instead of panels. Notice that I used a light color on walls and white ceilings and I also installed a very thin crown molding in this room.

I would add floor to ceiling curtains/panels to your window. My ceilings are low too...I added panels and it did the trick. If you want to see pics let me know.

Friend painted her low ceiling bronze. Any reflective surface would work, depends on color scheme.

alenm3, your home is charming and lovely! You have done a great job!

@culinarybabe, I'd love to see the pics. i have a bay window here, floor to ceiling drapes will still work? should we keep them closed all the time?

yes alenm, your house looks beautiful.

Maddy,

Will you have cove (ceiling) molding? We just moved into a 1966 house with 8' ceilings throughout, after 25 years in a house with cathedral ceilings in living and MBR. I used all the tricks in this living room: (1) had the baseboard, chair-rail, and cove molding all painted the same as the wall (a light color, but not white)(BM Brandy Cream). I did this even though my husband wanted the archway doorframes painted the ceiling color (an off-white, BM Woodland Snow). So there is a slight 'break' where the wall-colored trim (base-board and chair-rail) meets the doorframes, but over all the look is fine and (as the cove molding is fairly elaborate and medium depth and height) it DOES made the walls look taller. (2) the wall switch that controls an outlet, turns on a torchiere. We hung the 12' bay/picture window's drapes tall and wide. As close to ceiling to floor as possible with that cove molding! And they are solid and the same hue as the walls, just a shade or two darker, and ripple-fold, so when they're drawn at night, the "wall" they make has vertical lines.

We're still moving in and I haven't gotten any GOOD pics to share!

Thank you Lynartist and Maddy.

Maddy, I too have a bay window in the dining room and I did floor to ceiling curtain panels. I haven't finished painting (still have to do second coat), but the mini blinds will be replaced by light colored roman shades when I'm done. Hope these pictures help you.

And if you can still do the ceilings a bit higher, I would do it if it is feasible and if you can afford it. Have you thought of exposing the ceiling wood beams? I wanted to do that but couldn't do that either (beams did not go in same direction in the tiny rooms I opened up and too many heater vents and plumbing pipes to deal with). But if you are unable to do higher ceilings, your house will look fine with low ceilings. You just have to be very careful with decor and paint to fool the eyes into making your house look a bit taller. Hope my pictures helped and enjoy decorating your home!

alenm3, that looks super! Keeping everything very light and having nothing to break the eye really helps. The drapes are perfect! What a pretty home! Congrats!

Thank you, Lyn... it's been quite a challenge decorating with such low ceilings! I would love higher ceilings but I'm very pleased with how it's coming out.

Maddy, I just took exact measurements of each room height for you. I hope it helps.

*Tiny room with accent chairs and cow art on walls is 7 feet 3 inches tall. (not counting any beams, otherwise it's lower where beams are).

*Dining room with bay window and kitchen is 7 feet 5 inches.

*Living room is 7 feet, 4 inches (not counting beams, with beams, it's only 7 feet).

I think it's too late to change it. I was too scared to ask the contractor. he's told us so many times to raise it, but we did not want to shell that money. and i wanted a sloped ceiling as well. and it was not very important to me at that time, because it is just the living room and we hardly spend any time there and it is just at one point in the whole house. anywho, all i want to do now is to create a perception of high ceiling. we are going with contemporary theme, so my contractor said crown moulding does'nt look good. I'm gonna put ceiling to floor drapes like you did! they look awesome. i'm gonna paint the entire room light color. I;m planning to put light colored couches and probably a nice bright area rug. Thanks everyone for the great advice.

It's going to just fine! Really!! Hope you post when done so we can see the beautiful results:)

Paint your ceiling BM In Your Eyes, it has a faint blue color. Other option is to paint the ceiling and walls the same color.

I'm so glad you're so excited about decorating your new space.... have fun! Please do post pictures when you're done!