How to Decorate a Living Room with High Ceilings

High ceilings are a coveted architectural feature, but they come with a specific decorating challenge: scale. Furniture and accessories that look perfectly proportioned in a standard eight-foot-ceiling room can look like dollhouse pieces under a twelve or fourteen-foot ceiling. Making a high-ceiling room feel warm and comfortable requires deliberately scaling up and drawing the eye downward.

Scale Up Your Artwork

Single small pieces of art look lost on tall walls. Go large — a single canvas that is three to four feet wide, or a gallery wall that fills a substantial section of the wall from roughly eye level up. Artwork hung too high is a common mistake; keep the center of the piece at eye level (about 57 to 60 inches from the floor), even if that leaves empty wall above it.

Tall Bookcases and Vertical Elements

Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves embrace the height and fill the vertical space purposefully. A tall armoire, a pair of tall floor lamps, or a dramatic chandelier all help bridge the gap between your furniture and the ceiling. Vertical elements guide the eye upward intentionally rather than leaving it to travel uncomfortably to an empty ceiling.

Use Drapery to Control the Space

Hanging curtains just below the ceiling in a high-ceiling room and letting them puddle slightly on the floor encloses the space and makes it feel warmer and more intimate. Choose heavy fabrics — velvet, thick linen, or wool blends — that have enough visual weight to anchor the tall window treatment.