Gypsum and mood lighting everywhere
I walked into a newly built house and as I made my rounds, happened to look up at the ceiling in the living room to check out the lighting fixtures and my jaw just dropped!
The ceiling was laced with patterns in four different designs. I did not know there still existed craftsmen that could do this stuff. These designs were very common when I was growing up and this was a long time ago. However, this was a one-off.
The trend
With increasing inventions on ceiling décor, what is in vogue is the gypsum board plus the ‘thousand’ pieces of recess and mood lighting attached to it. It is gypsum board in the salon, hotel lobby, mall, restaurant, takeaway and even in residences.
Gypsum boards are a fabulous way to transform a space, but like most things, too much is not a good thing. When it is used in homes, care has to be taken to ensure that what is supposed to be a space of comfort and warmth does not end up feeling like a recreational or workplace.
The trick is in the design
For homes, one needs to select designs that are not too busy and boxy and characterised by smooth curves or minimal layers. Too many cubes facing all directions not only puts the bottom part of your living room in a position where it is competing with the ceiling but the ceiling can never be a place of refuge for your eyes and mind after a long day.
The height of your walls should help determine the number of layers of gypsum.
If it is a home with high ceilings, then a more extravagant, layering design would compliment rather than offend the eye. A low ceiling may not require gypsum because it will create the illusion of being lower than it is.
The next time you are considering gypsum for your ceiling avoid getting carried away by the many sample designs displayed by the service provider and make a decision based on functionality of the space and height of the ceiling.
