30 Vaulted Ceiling Ideas That Will Add Drama to Any Room

Vaulted ceilings add height, drama, and an airy feeling to kitchens, living rooms, great rooms, and more. Vault the ceiling to add architectural interest while making a room feel more spacious, and add character with wood beams, paneling, or statement lighting.

Check out these vaulted ceiling ideas for inspiration.

Maximize Picturesque Views

Complement the vaulted ceiling in a large kitchen with vaulting on a secondary space like a breakfast nook. Add decorative beams in the same stain as ceiling beams in the main space, and highlight with a trio of staggered pendant lights.

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Lean Into a Nautical Feel

Use a vaulted ceiling to highlight and enhance a room with a view. Double-height windows and warm wood beams create a pretty frame for this waterfront living room.

Consider the Furniture Layout

Experiment with lighting options like kitchen pendant light fixtures, to enhance a vaulted ceiling. Choose a material that adds texture and contrast, like woven rattan shades that complement an all-white ceiling, and anchor the placement of a large kitchen island.

Create an Impressive Entrance

Use decorative stained beams to create a wow-worthy entrance in a living room without a traditional foyer. The beams echo the subtle arch of the front door and decorative windows.

Highlight With Wood Beams

Highlight the unique shape of a room by extending beams from the vaulted ceiling downward onto walls. To bring cohesion, match the wood to the other wooden elements in the room, such as the window frames.

Bring Outdoor Materials In

Create a cohesive feel in a home with indoor and outdoor living spaces by using similar materials on the interior and exterior.

This transitional space incorporates stone and red steel as signature materials that add character to the exterior and highlight dramatic vaulted ceilings in the double-height living room.

Add Subtle Texture

A vaulted ceiling will add interest to an all-white living room. Incorporate texture with painted beams and shiplap accents.

Work With the Leading Lines

Here, the edges of each wall of the vaulted ceiling form a natural focal point at the end of the living room. Work with this by adding a statement such as a black fireplace where the leading lines of your vaulted ceiling go.

Install Skylights

Install skylight windows in your vaulted ceiling to bring in extra light. Pair with a nature-inspired color palette, as shown here, to feel as though you stepped into a cozy cabin in the woods.

Utilize Empty Space

In this modern and rustic open living and dining room, the extra space allowed by the vaulted ceiling is used perfectly with a large fish sculpture. Paired with two large chandeliers and wooden beams across the ceiling, everything feels pulled together.

Keep it Simple

If your ceiling is only slightly vaulted, keep the design simple. Here, built-in bookshelves anchor the living room while drawing attention upward to the interesting ceiling.

Hang a Long Chandelier

If you have a really high vaulted ceiling, embrace the extra space by installing a long statement chandelier, as shown here. The long rod of the chandelier really shows how high the ceilings are, making the room feel even bigger.

Pair White Beams With White Shiplap

In this coastal bedroom design, white beams and white shiplap create a breezy feel. Wood furniture and blue-and-white textiles add warmth.

Embrace Natural Elements

Bring in natural textures, colors, and objects to give a formal dining room with vaulted ceilings a cozy feel. Alternate white beams with white shiplap accents to add texture to the ceiling.

Contrast With Board and Batten

This living room makes a real statement thanks to the high vaulted white ceilings anchored by a blue board and batten accent wall. The contrast in color and shape is what makes this space feel so bold, despite the limited color palette.

Hang a Chandelier

If you uncover a vaulted ceiling during a gut renovation, consider it a welcome surprise. Hang a chandelier from the ceiling to draw the eye upward and add charm to a kids' bedroom.

Mix Pendant Lighting

In this colorful, eclectic living room, the vaulted ceiling has deep brown beams to create a cozy ambiance. Two different gold pendant lights make a statement while still feeling cohesive because they have the same metal finish.

Add a Curvy Chandelier

To offset all the sharp lines of the white shiplap vaulted ceiling and accompanying wood beams, find a chandelier that has curves within its design, as seen here. This adds more balance to the space. For extra visual interest, find a chandelier that also has a contrasting color to the ceiling and walls.

Add Arched Built-In Shelving

While the vaulted ceilings already create extra space in this stunning living room, the built-in shelves add even more dimension and square footage. To balance out the shiplap vaulted ceiling with a triangular shape, the built-in bookshelves were created with an arch shape.

Coordinate Beams With Lighting Fixtures

This cozy bedroom has a rustic feel thanks to the wooden beams across the vaulted ceiling. To bring extra cohesiveness to the space, two light fixtures featuring a similar brown tone pull it all together.

Go All Wooden

Instead of sticking with wood accent beams, go all wooden with your vaulted ceiling. This creates a cozy ambiance in any space, helping you relax and unwind.

Lighten Up Your Sunroom

In this sunroom, large windows help bring in all the light possible. To really lean into the sun-soaked space, keep the color of the vaulted ceiling light by painting it completely white.

Use Light Wood Beams

In this largely monochromatic bedroom, the white, gray, and black are broken up by the light wood beams that frame the vaulted ceiling. This adds a bit more warmth to the bedroom and helps the limited color palette feel less stark.

Try a Color Block Paint Design

Play with the unique shape of your vaulted ceiling by painting different facets different shades. You can pull colors from other elements throughout the space to make it feel intentional and cohesive.

Aim Angular

This living room embraces the triangular ceiling by adding various other triangular and geometric elements such as the pendant light, the kitchen backsplash, and the cozy and bright rug.

Accentuate With Wood Beams

This vaulted ceiling is outfitted with warm wood beams to highlight the unique shape of the ceiling, giving a rustic but contemporary feel to this open kitchen and dining area.

Add Rows of Lights

In this airy space, rows of lights alternate between the beams of the vaulted ceiling. This creates visual interest while still being functional.

Install Cozy Mood Lighting

If you're not interested in big statement light fixtures, work with the crevices of a vaulted ceiling by installing cozy mood lighting. The LED lighting gives this space a relaxing feel.

Go Dark and Moody

Use black paint to add moodiness to a room with vaulted ceilings. Paint walls in a deep matte shade and hang black drapes and monochromatic art on the walls to complement dark wood beams.

Go Geometric

Work with the extra ceiling height by creating a geometric pattern in the ceiling, as shown here. This feels modern and luxe, but also is a subtle detail that really brings the whole open floor plan of this apartment together.