The Pros and Cons of Having High Ceilings

While not always within the line of sight, ceilings are the most open surface you have in the rooms. Furniture covers the floor space, windows, and decor are on the walls, but aside from a few light fixtures, the ceiling is the most open surface you have. So, even if it is oftentimes too high to be in the peripheral vision, the ceiling plays a huge role in creating the atmosphere of any room.

Color, design features, and lighting are all very important elements of ceiling design. But one important factor in ceilings that has a huge impact on the vibe of the entire home is its height. The height of your ceiling purely comes down to your preference. Some people prefer high ceilings, while others prefer lower ones. Whatever you choose to have in your home will have a varied impact on the atmosphere.

High ceilings are quite common in larger homes and, for the longest time, could only be found in mansions. Nowadays, having homes with high ceilings, be it a studio apartment or a cottage, is not uncommon. So, what benefits and shortcomings do these raised ceilings have, and how can you use them to your advantage?

Pros

The Advantages of Having High Ceilings

Ceiling height can have practical and aesthetic benefits in your home. These can help you decide whether to construct your rooms to have higher ceilings or lower ones, depending on your personal preferences, stylistic choices, and the practical benefits of height.

More Room for Aesthetic Elements

Make Room for More Decor with Higher Ceilings

Arguably, having a high ceiling purely for aesthetic reasons is not as big of an advantage as you may initially think. However, aesthetics do matter, as they have a huge say in the room's atmosphere. A badly designed room can have adverse effects on your physical and mental state, and ignoring them will cause problems.

High ceilings give you more freedom to experiment and personalize your interior to suit your aesthetic preferences and needs. The problem with low ceilings is that they don’t leave much room for decor on the walls, as they are shorter. Additionally, big portraits and other pieces of large decor look tacked on and too overbearing in rooms with low ceilings. 

Fortunately, many modern house plans with high ceilings don’t have this problem, as contemporary interior designs lean more towards open floor plans with very tall ceilings. If your room has high ceiling walls, however, you will have plenty of space to work with when it comes to decor.

Extra Headroom

Destress Easily with More Headroom In High Ceiling Rooms

Aside from the decor, double-height ceilings are also great for all the claustrophobes in the household. That is a bit hyperbolic, as you don’t need to fear small confined spaces to appreciate the extra headroom in homes with tall ceilings. Low ceilings can be somewhat limiting, especially if you lived in a home with higher ceilings before that. 

Even if you’ve never lived in a home with a high-ceiling roof, you can still feel the extra comfort of the extra headspace. Again, having higher roofs at the end of the day is purely preferential; there is always a general satisfaction and sense of ease that comes with knowing there is plenty of room above your head.

Plenty of Natural Light

How Can High Ceilings Brighten Up Rooms?

Natural light can make or break your interior. Not having enough natural light in the room will make it seem dark and even unfriendly. Too much of it can make the room far too bright in the morning and afternoon. But then again, curtains do exist, so it’s better to have more natural light than none of it. This is where houses with high roofs and ceilings shine, as the bigger walls allow for the installation of panoramic windows.

Panoramic windows are huge and allow for a lot of sunlight to fill the interior. While you can have them installed in homes with lower ceilings, it is still a better option for walls that can accommodate these bigger openings. If panoramic windows are something you’re interested in, tall ceilings are a must. 

Cons

Downsides to Keep In Mind About Low Ceilings

High-ceiling interiors may seem like a no-lose situation, but there are some disadvantages you need to consider. These can be somewhat demotivating when it comes to building or purchasing a house with high ceilings, though some of these downsides do have certain workarounds that may redeem them for you.

Noise and Echo

A Bigger Interior Can Create More Noise and Echo

One of the most overt problems that rooms with high ceilings have becomes apparent the second you enter the room. Hearing the echoes of your footsteps doesn’t seem like much of a bother at first, but that sound will wear you out after a while. And hearing the echo of your own voice, even when you say something at a completely normal volume will also get on your nerves quite quickly.

If you want an entertainment center in a room with high ceilings, consider installing soundproofing panels on some of the walls to reduce the echoing. Alternatively, there are home stereo systems that neutralize this effect. You can also install carpet flooring, which absorbs some of the soundwaves and keeps them from echoing around the room. 

Do keep in mind, however, that these additions might not match your interior design preferences and may interfere with your aesthetic vision. So, lower ceilings may be preferable if you get easily irritated by echoes and noisy interiors and none of the solutions sit well with you.

Difficulty with Heating

It’s Not Easy to Heat Up High Ceilings

You won’t hear anyone say that physics is an easy subject to understand. But there are some general truths that are quite straightforward. One of these is that the more space an interior has, the harder it is to heat up. This is the case with rooms with high ceilings. With raised ceilings, you naturally have more space in the room. Since most types of heaters tend to be at the bottom of the room, and heat travels upwards, it’s much harder to heat up all that extra space when you have a high roof ceiling.

Certain tricks that homeowners use to heat up the tops of their rooms, such as using space heaters, changing the direction of the vents to blow upwards, or letting in plenty of natural sunlight, are not always enough, and the room could stay somewhat cold. If you’re looking to keep your home toasty, then high ceilings may require a little extra effort to heat up.

Additional Maintenance

Keeping High Ceiling Rooms Clean Is Not The Easiest

Sure, all that extra surface space on the walls gives you ample opportunities to personalize and decorate your interior. But those opportunities don’t come without the extra responsibility of having to clean and maintain them. Lower areas of the walls are susceptible to damage as they are within reach, so the higher areas of your walls don’t need to worry as much about scratches, stains, and chips.

But cleaning is still going to be a problem. Dust, spiderwebs, and dirt are much harder to clean with higher ceilings. While lower ceiling rooms can be easily wiped off with a long duster or cleaned with a vacuum, any time you need to clean a high ceiling, you’ll need to bring out that step ladder to get the job done. Though there are some very long brooms and dusters out there, it’s still harder to see how clean those areas are as they are too far out of sight.