Whether you are just updating the flooring of a room or updating the entire room, your floor must be in harmony with the rest of the room. If you have exposed ceiling beams, you may wonder if that means your floor should match your ceiling beams. We have looked into it for you, and we have your answers.
The ceiling beams and floor of a room do not necessarily need to match. Matching your beams to your ceiling can pull the room together, but it can also negatively impact some situations. Dark beams with dark floors can be too much darkness and make the room feel cave-like. You must also take care not to have too much matching, which can lead to a lack of visual impact for a room. At the same time, if the undertones of your contrasting beams and floor clash, it may be unsightly.
We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of matching ceiling beams and floors below and give examples of what works and what doesn’t. Please keep reading.
Matching Ceiling Beams And Floors
When it comes to decorating your home, some of the most impactful decisions can be your choice of flooring. While you can’t always easily change whether you have exposed beams, what you decide to do with them can make a huge difference to your space's look. With these two items being such huge factors in the look of your room, how they play together is an essential factor to consider.
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Matching
So does this mean you’re better off making your floors and ceiling beams match? It turns out it’s not that simple. There are other things to consider, such as what you hope to accomplish with your design and what furniture you place in the room.
Consider a dark floor with dark ceiling beams, such as this one:
This room works because of the lighter colored cabinetry, the rug, the sofa, and light walls. It mirrors the floor color in the beam's color, which gives a sense of warmth and coziness to the room. This is a significant advantage to matching the beams and flooring; it pulls everything together.
But imagine that same room with darker furniture and walls. Maybe imagine replacing those light cabinets with black, or even with dark stained wood. That room would have a very different, much darker, more monotonous look. The room might also lack visual interest at that point as well.
And the same can happen with a light floor paired with a light beam ceiling, like this:
This works because of the red of the furniture pieces, with the textured wall providing a bit of added interest of its own. But imagine that room with beige furniture and a smooth white wall. It could feel very sterile and cold. On top of that, the room would feel unanchored and lacking.
Contrasting
One way to avoid the problem you have from overdoing it with too much matching dark or light can be to have contrasting flooring and ceiling beams, such as in this room:
Here the ceiling beams and floor are different enough to break up the room and keep it from becoming ho-hum.
Another thing to notice in the room above is that the ceiling beams and the flooring are similar hues. You don’t have a very stark, cold hue on the floor and a rich, warm hue on the ceiling beams. That would create a clash that could be slightly jarring. When contrasting, keep warm hues with warm and cold hues with cold.
A simple way to change up a room with clashing beams and floors would be to paint the beams, like below. This would also help if your room is too monochromatic and lacks visual interest because of too much matching.
Keep your furniture choice in mind if your room does seem to lack visual interest. Painting the ceiling beams may not always be the appropriate fix if a new sofa, chair, or rug would take care of the issue.
Should Floor And Ceiling Planks Run The Same Direction?
There is no set rule for whether your ceiling and flooring should run in the same direction. A lot depends on your tastes.
Generally speaking, flooring tends to run along the length of the room. That’s not a rule; some people run it across the room. This is less important in a square room or a larger room. Just keep in mind, whichever direction you run, the planks will seem longer and the other direction shorter. You can use this to make a narrow room appear wider, or a short room seem longer.
Ceiling planks tend to run perpendicular to ceiling joists, so that may be your determining factor for direction with them. While they can run in parallel, it’s much less common. Again, the direction can affect how large the room feels in that direction, giving the visual effect of stretching the room in the direction of the planks and shrinking it the other direction.
If you run your flooring lengthwise to the room, then whatever way that works out for your ceiling should be fine, with few exceptions. Running parallel or perpendicular to your ceiling direction will look fine. Even diagonal flooring can work with a ceiling that runs straight with the room, or vice versa.
Do Ceiling Beams Make A Room Look Smaller?
Generally speaking, ceiling beams do not make a room look smaller. What they tend to do is make the room look longer in the direction they run. So if a room is narrow and you want to make it look wider, run beams across the narrow width, for example.
Sometimes people worry that an already low ceiling will look and feel even lower with ceiling beams. In cases like that, some designers recommend using a beam that only hangs a short distance below the ceiling, such as a half beam. Another thing many people suggest in those cases is to space your beams farther apart so that they have less visual impact.
Another option for rooms with low ceilings and beams is to paint both the ceiling and beams white, such as in this room:
You can see here that the ceiling doesn’t feel too low and doesn’t make the room feel too claustrophobic, even with a lot of beams.
Can You Paint Ceiling Beams?
Ceiling beams are potent design elements, and they are a perfect place to change the entire look of a room with only a simple coat or two of paint. You can paint them, and many homeowners even find it to be a fun weekend project.
Consider the impact of this room:
Now think about how different that room would look if the wood were natural or painted the beams white instead.
Don’t be afraid to treat your ceiling beams like any other trim in your home. Take a chance and paint it if you think it will improve the look of your room. You can repaint it or strip the paint back off and stain the beam in the future.
In Closing
There are no set rules for whether your ceiling beams and your floors should match. As we have discussed above, there are many situations where it may be to your advantage to try to match the beams and flooring, and there are times when you may be better off with a contrast. Whether they match or not is up to your tastes and opinion, but they are prominent design elements that you can use to change the entire room's look and mood if you do it correctly.
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Thank you for this overview. I have dark wood floors and researching the best stain for the beams we are installing.