The ceiling of your home is one of its most important parts. It’s a huge surface in your home that you’ll see every time you look around the room. Going for wood will give you that nice cottage aesthetics, even if your home has no other elements. 

Wood is also quite versatile, durable, and provides numerous acoustic benefits. Due to the nature of the material, the reverberation is much lower, which is especially great for smaller places.

So, everything we’ve listed before was WHY, but now, let’s focus on HOW you can make a stunning and durable wood ceiling for your home.

Picking the right wood type

The type of wood you choose will determine everything from the texture to the project’s cost. For instance, going for a mahogany ceiling and picking oak or pine differ. The bottom line is that you should get familiar with some of these types to make the right choice.

• Pine: This is one of the most affordable types on this list. It has a slightly lighter color than other wood types, and its grain patterns will give you the classic look you expect from wood. Now, it’s quite easy to paint over it, but it’s softer and stains quite easily. It’s great if you want to transform your space on a budget.
• Oak: On the other hand, Oak is renowned for its strength and durability. It will add a timeless look to a room, especially since, in most authentic rustic households, this type of wood was used for the ceiling.
• Redwood: If you’re looking for the type of wood you won’t have to worry too much about, you just can’t go wrong with redwood. This wood is renowned for its resistance to rot and decay, which makes it ideal for such an important architectural element.
• Maple: Maple is a great way to disprove those who believe a wooden ceiling cannot fit nicely into a contemporary-style home. 
• Mahogany: Lastly, mahogany is a premium hardwood. It’s what you go for when money is not an issue and you aim for optimal aesthetics. 

In the end, you should probably start by budgeting. Then, you can estimate the surface you must cover, look up the wood costs, and do some quick math. If you can’t afford the type you like the most, cross it off the list and look for the second-best. 

Design and layout

Generally speaking, the choice of design type is the most important thing for your home’s interior. Fortunately, there are so many architectural wood ceilings for you to choose from, and you can go for any you like. 

• Coffered ceilings: Coffered ceilings create an impression that your ceiling is far deeper and more intricate. It’s great for all sorts of downlights, and it can help both make a smaller room larger and a larger room appear smaller (depending on how it’s done). Due to its nature that affects the perception of depth, this is great for creating all sorts of optical illusions.
• Vaulted ceilings: This is what it’s like to use wood to recreate an impression of a cottage or just a very old hall. This is what the ceiling of a cathedral looked like in the Middle Ages and left everyone in awe. It’s just that the scale in your home is a lot smaller.
• Exposed beam ceil: In the past, people did their best to conceal the material that the home was made of. Today, bare brick walls and exposed beam ceilings are all the rage. Digging beneath the surface is always a great idea.
• Stained wood and skylights: The effect of light on wood can give some impressive results. Therefore, you may want to consider this effect before picking a ceiling. 
• Tray ceilings: The tray ceiling has a stepped section. In a way, it’s quite similar to coffered ceilings, only it’s slightly less compartmentalized. It’s one of the most popular architectural ceiling choices on the list. 

As you can see, the choice of material doesn’t restrict most styles you like. 

DIY or professional help

While making ceilings is far from simple, if you have any experience with home improvement projects, carpentry, and woodworking, you might want to try a DIY project.

The good thing about this is that it will save you money. While it will last longer, you’re in full control of the project. You don’t have to hope that your contractors can fit you into a schedule; you can take a day off whenever you need to, and you can work overtime if you like it.

Just make sure that the money you think you’re saving may not always be there, especially since your hourly wage might be pretty high and you need the rest (it will go from your own free time).

It also comes down to how complex the project is. If we’re talking about a massive scope of the project and one of the architectural ceilings discussed in the previous section, DIY will not cut it.

Get it done

Having ongoing work in your home is never pleasant. It’s not just about the cost of the project or the fact that the handyman may charge you by the hour. In reality, when there’s a work in progress, there’s a lot of stuff hanging or at least not being fastened tightly enough. 

You should also consider the psychological pressure caused by havoc in your home. Sometimes, even if you have to pay more or work over the weekend, it’s worth it to bring this story to its conclusion. 

Wrap up

A wooden ceiling could completely change your home for years to come. Sure, even the cheapest material is probably more expensive than a drywall, but the result is incomparable. So, in the end, it just comes down to personal preference. Is there a particular wood texture you like, and how much more will you pay? Remember that this is a major decision, and you’re not doing ceilings every year. So, even if it takes a bit more money, research, and effort, it’s worth it. 

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Donald Phillips