The Houston, Texas, interior designer Sandra Lucas knows the way to a Southerner’s heart: a happy kitchen. And in the case of one notable culinary command center in her oeuvre, wallpapered ceilings were on the menu. “The South is all about hospitality and warmth and it adds a bit of fun and whimsy,” she says.
The kitchen, nestled in a house built in the 1940s in Houston’s River Oaks neighborhood, features eight foot ceilings. “Giving them a special treatment adds character and interest,” Lucas continues. To do just that, she chose a custom-colored, hand-marbled paper from Rule of Three Studio, a small Los Angeles firm.
Lucas continued the look into the adjoining breakfast room and pantry. “It really tied the spaces together and complemented the Tilleul color of the Lacanche range and the soft white of the paneling and trim,” she says. She also used the veil of the pattern to disguise modern visual intrusions like can speakers, faux-finishing them to match the paper so they would “disappear into the lovely pattern.”
Lucas offers wisdom on other decorative ceiling additions, too, with a word of caution. “Painting ceilings in a high-gloss finish is [another] one of my favorite tricks to visually raise ceiling heights and add sparkle to a space,” she says. “Keep in mind this can be particularly challenging, especially in older homes, as high-gloss paints show every imperfection. Much prep, preparation, and care are needed to achieve this, but the rewards are great.”
She also believes in balance. In a room in the same house that features dramatic, bespoke De Gournay wallpaper murals and decorative molding on the ceiling, she kept things neutral. “As with any space, there can be too much of a good thing,” she says. “But I rarely disagree with a design element or color on the ceiling. When wood planking or architectural beams are not right for a space, wallpaper or paint can add a lot.”
Haskell Harris is the founding style director at Garden & Gun. She joined the title in 2008 and covers all things design-focused for the magazine. The House Romantic: Curating Memorable Interiors for a Meaningful Life is her first book. Follow @haskellharris on Instagram.
