Beautify Your High Ceiling Living Room With These Simple Decorating Tricks

Living rooms with soaring ceilings present a unique decorating opportunity. While all that headspace lends a sense of grandeur, it can also make a room feel cavernous. The key is to draw the eyes upwards and fill all that vertical real estate in a way that feels warm, welcoming and intimate.

With a few simple tricks, you can turn your high ceiling living room into a breathtaking and comfortable space for lounging and entertaining. Read on for ideas to beautifully embrace the height, without breaking the bank.

Use Large Area Rugs Strategically

An oversized area rug is a simple way to define a seating area and instantly add coziness to your high ceiling living room. Choose a plush, shaggy texture and extend the rug well under your furniture. For even more impact, consider selecting a rug that reaches the walls, enveloping the entire conversation area in a cocoon of softness underfoot.

Rugs in natural fiber blends, like wool and cotton, provide visual weight and warmth that balances out all the height overhead. When purchasing your rug, focus less on the look and more on how it feels underfoot. The plusher and more tactile, the better.

Add Layers of Lighting at Various Heights

Overhead lighting alone can make a high ceiling room feel cold and cavernous. The key is adding illumination at multiple levels to cast a warmer, inviting glow. Try pendant lights above conversation areas, vintage table and floor lamps, sconces flanking the sofa and picture lights on artworks.

Mixing metallic finishes, like brass, chrome and nickel, adds interest and brightness. Don't be afraid to use lighting creatively, like stringing cafe lights across the ceiling or lining the tops of bookshelves with LED strip lighting. The result is a room that sparkles from top to bottom.

Incorporate Tall Decor Pieces

When decorating a living room with high ceilings, the goal is drawing the eyes upward. Extra tall bookshelves lining an entire wall create vertical interest while displaying cherished volumes and objects. Floor-to-ceiling draperies, mounted close to the ceiling, frame windows in plush elegance.

Consider hanging pieces of art salon style, with smaller pieces clustered near the top third of the wall. For organic height, add potted trees, dangling ivy or a majestic fiddle leaf fig. The greenery serves to soften the space while adding feel-good ambiance.

Special Consideration for Fireplaces

If your soaring living room is blessed with a fireplace, take care when decorating the surrounding mantle and hearth. A mantel styled with tall vases, art and a large mirror expands the decorating possibilities. You can also flank the fireplace with built-in shelving painted a rich, moody hue.

Extend the warmth from the fireplace outward by laying an area rug in front and arranging plush seating to create an intimate seating area perfect for conversation.

Choose Vertical Patterned Wallpaper

Wallpaper may seem counterintuitive for a room with tall walls and a staggering amount of square footage. But when thoughtfully applied, it can be unexpectedly brilliant at making the space feel downright cozy. The key is sticking with vertical stripes, trellises or repeating graphics in muted, earthy hues.

Steer clear of oversized blooms and horizontal stripes, which could potentially overwhelm. For best results, limit wallpaper to one accent wall as a stunning focal point. And be sure to enlist a professional installer, as working at great heights carries risk.

Arrange Furniture Thoughtfully

No matter the ceiling height, a living room should promote easy conversation. Break up furnishings into intimate vignettes of chairs, sofas and side tables instead of lining them up stiffly against the walls. Angle pieces inward to foster interaction.

In a high ceiling room, oversized furnishings feel anchored instead of floating aimlessly. Sectionals, large ottomans and substantial armchairs provide visual weight. Resist crowding every corner--allow breathing room between furniture to enable flow.

Create Separate Activity Zones

Dividing your sprawling living room into zones provides better traffic flow for conversations, TV watching and reading nooks. Use area rugs to define each space and consider ceiling-height bookshelves as room dividers. Even houseplants can help delineate function.

For example, place plush chairs by the fireplace to create a discussion area. Float the couch around a rug in front of the TV. Tuck a chaise, ottoman and floor lamp into a corner for cozy lounging.

Add Plush Textiles and Accessories

While a high ceiling instantly commands attention, you need plush textiles and accessories to create warmth and intimacy. Layer rugs atop carpeting, then pile on throws and pillows in chenille, faux fur and velvet. Table lamps in dark metallics feel substantial and elegant.

Plus, don't forget the finishing touches, like large-scale vases and trays for visual interest. Hang sheer curtains and drapes in flowing silks and velvets to soften hard edges. The result is a gracefully enveloping space meant for relaxing.

With strategic furnishing choices, impactful fabrics and creative lighting, your soaring living room can feel as cozy as it is visually impressive. Embrace the vertical space by drawing the eye upward with tall silhouettes. Then temper the height with plush rugs, abundant textiles and warm, ambient lighting.

Follow these simple high ceiling decorating tricks, and you'll enjoy a living room that's both breathtaking and inviting. No longer will you feel dwarfed by all that headroom. Instead, you're free to creatively elevate the design in ways that highlight the beauty.