The Unsellable Houses Team Explains How To Upgrade A Basic Drop Ceiling

When your home has low ceilings, it makes the interior feel small and cramped, making decorating challenging. You want to open up the space and fill it with natural light so you or your guests don't feel closed in. Drop ceilings make decorating more difficult since they make a space look awkward and tight. However, they can be painted to give the illusion of a high ceiling. HGTV's "Unsellable Houses" team, Lyndsay Lamb and Leslie Davis, know a trick or two about transforming a tight room into an ample space by creating a design feature with a drop ceiling. They repaint the drop ceiling with a dark color to match the flooring and the kitchen's interior.

If you move into a previously owned home or design your home for the first time, consider the ceiling's height. Low ceilings in rooms that don't receive much sun will feel dark and confined, but, of course, you can make the space brighter with the lighting and paint colors you choose. Lighter, softer paints will help the ceilings appear higher, and mounted LED lights will illuminate the room. On the other hand, if you move into an existing home with drop ceilings, you can renovate it by raising the ceiling, but that might be out of your budget; instead, you upgrade it like Lamb and Davis. Here's how.

HGTV's "Unsellable Houses," Lyndsay Lamb and Leslie Davis helped married couple Brian and Alana transform the 3,400-square-foot home that they planned to sell and use the money for their retirement. However, their home was on the market for six weeks without an offer until Lamb and Davis came in and made significant changes that sold the house for a million dollars. The abode has dark features with natural wood accents, which the sisters kept and expanded as they renovated.

Due to the drop ceilings, the kitchen gave them more trouble than the other spaces, but they managed to upgrade them. Instead of raising the ceiling, Lamb suggested turning the drop ceilings into a design feature by repainting them gray and adding wood panels. The kitchen's interior comprised wood flooring, cabinets, and a small entrance between counters. It was a portable island to replace the main island connected to the wall. Moreover, the sisters upgraded the fireplace next to the kitchen by giving it a makeover with a brick wall that complemented the wood flooring and drop ceiling.

Lyndsay Lamb and Leslie Davis' drop ceiling upgrade is just one of many options you can do to dress them up. Get creative with your drop ceiling transformation by decorating it to match your home's interior. For example, use patterned wallpaper to cover the drop ceiling, adding interest and personality to your space. Opt for a floral pattern in a French country-style home, especially the kitchen, to elevate the room with color. Use peel-and-stick wallpaper to remove it to add a different design easily. Remember, you'll need a flat, smooth surface for the wallpaper to stick adequately.

Or, if you have a modern interior, paint the drop ceiling a neutral color. For a brightly lit space, paint it black for a bold look, especially if the interior is white. The black drop ceiling will contrast the white interior, giving the illusion of taller ceilings. However, use vibrant colors if you want your drop ceiling to stand out instead of blending with the rest of the walls. For a maximalist interior, create a striped design with multiple paint colors that complement the rest of the space. You can also make a checkered design and paint each square a different color that stands out from the rest of the room. You can even test your artistic skills and design a mural.