Coffered Ceilings: Everything You Need to Know

If you’re bored with your flat white ceiling, a coffered ceiling could be what you need to liven up a room—but what exactly are they? These ceilings help make your room look more unique and put together. You can customize coffered ceiling designs according to your taste, and you can choose the type of wood, beams, embellishment, and paint to enhance the appearance of your room.

What Is a Coffered Ceiling?

A coffered ceiling features three-dimensional grids that create the illusion of space and introduce texture and architectural elements. These unique ceilings can open up a room, provide visual interest, and contribute to your home’s overall aesthetic. Coffered ceilings are usually best suited to rooms with tall ceilings since the beams of the ceiling take up overhead space.

What Types of Home Decor Work Best With Coffered Ceilings?

Coffered ceilings mesh well with traditional design aesthetics and formal rooms, but the sky’s the limit when it comes to incorporating coffered ceilings into your home. 

You can customize your ceiling to fit in with the aesthetics of your room, including paint colors, embellishments, and design. Coffered ceilings are popular choices for rooms including kitchens, dining rooms, and living rooms.

Coffered Ceiling Considerations

Before you dive into a coffered ceiling installation, consider these additional factors. 

Ceiling Height

Part of the appeal of this unique ceiling design is that it expands into the room. However, its construction is best suited for a room with tall ceilings—at least 9 feet tall. That way, the coffered ceiling doesn’t cause the room to feel cramped or overpowered by its design. Save this ceiling type for living rooms, dining rooms, or bedrooms with ultra-high ceilings.

Faux vs. Functional Beams

While you may love the look of coffered ceilings, don’t rely on its beams for structural support. Most coffered ceilings are not load-bearing, so they aren’t meant to support the weight of the floor above it. Although most of these beams are hollow, you may need to hire a structural engineer to ensure that your existing ceiling structure can handle the new weight distribution.

Coffered Ceiling Installation Costs 

It likely won’t surprise you to learn that installing coffered ceilings is a labor-intensive process that requires the expertise of a local professional carpenter. With that in mind, you can expect to pay at least $25 per square foot to install this ceiling type.

4 Benefits of Coffered Ceilings

Coffered ceilings can instantly upgrade the aesthetic appeal of any room. They can also help to make spaces feel roomier and even boost your home’s value. Now that you know what coffered ceilings are, here are a few benefits to adding them to your home:

1. Increases Your Home’s Value

Aside from aesthetic considerations, coffered ceilings can increase the value of your home. They help to add a touch of luxury to any room and make your home more attractive to prospective buyers. To add even more buyer appeal, consider adding a crown molding trim to your coffered ceiling.

2. Creates an Illusion of Space

Boxed-beam coffered ceilings create an illusion of additional space. To further enhance the feeling of spaciousness to a room, you can install narrow beams closer to the ceiling and paint them a different color to the recessed panels of the ceiling. This additional step will help the coffered beams pop against the flat areas of the ceiling, creating the appearance of extra height.

3. Absorbs Sound

Coffered ceilings also add audio comfort by absorbing echoes and excess sound in the room. This helps to reduce unwanted noise and makes rooms with coffered ceilings great areas for work or relaxation. This type of sound-absorbing project is the perfect solution for quieting a home office, music studio, or other work space.

4. Offers Aesthetic Appeal

Coffered ceilings definitely add texture and elegance to any room. These unique ceilings can help transform plain rooms into visually appealing, architecturally interesting spaces. Coffered ceilings are also a great opportunity to add colorful accents to your room by painting the recessed areas or the beams.