Ceiling design in the kitchen-living room

One of the biggest problems of city apartments built in Soviet times is their small size. Small rooms, small entrance hall and scanty kitchen. Therefore, many housewives during the repair decide to connect the kitchen and living room. And owners of apartments in modern new buildings, on the contrary, receive with purchase a large, already combined kitchen and living room space. They all want to arrange such a space correctly and correctly divide it into zones with different functionalities, as well as select ceiling coverings so that they harmoniously merge into the overall style of the room.

Repair of premises starting from the ceiling.Different options are possible here: you can just whiten it, paint it, glue it with wallpaper or, if finances allow it, splurge into more complex designs from innovative materials. It all depends on the height of the ceiling above the floor and the overall design of the room. For rooms with low ceilings, you can choose the option based on the developments of the past century and your own capabilities and preferences.

• Whitewashed ceilings used to be in each apartment and do not require large financial expenditures or special skills. As a coating, whitewash is used, which is an absolutely eco-friendly material. If you want colors in the interior, just add the desired shade to the color solution. This option does not apply to fashion trends, but it is ideal for rooms with low ceilings. The only disadvantage of such whitewashed coating is its fragility. Indeed, in the kitchen they cook a lot, there is a gas stove and therefore all coatings not only “absorb” smells, but also become polluted. Therefore, from time to time you have to whiten the ceiling again and again.

• Paint coating also does not apply to complex and expensive finishes.Before painting it is necessary to level the surface of the ceiling with the help of special building mixtures, so that the paint is laid down evenly. Water-based paints are used for coating: they are not too expensive, they are not very dangerous and they are easy to use. Stores provide a wide selection of colors for such materials. Painted ceilings are easy to clean from dust, but you cannot get rid of stains on them, so you have to repeat the painting procedure again.

• Pasting the ceiling wallpaper also suitable kitchen living rooms with low ceilings. In the building stores you can find different options for ceiling non-woven wallpaper, including for further painting. But it will take longer to tinker with such a ceiling, and there will be more money. It is much easier to glue the walls than to glue the ceiling: first, the surface of the ceiling under the glueing should be perfectly flat, otherwise you won't be able to join the design and make the seams invisible, and secondly, it is impossible for one person to glue the ceilings friends who are familiar with this type of work, or hire specialists.In addition to the described disadvantages, there are still drawbacks - wallpapers perfectly “absorb” all kitchen smells and pollution and do not like high humidity.

In rooms with high ceilings, you can also use the above-described methods of finishing, as well as consider more modern solutions. Plasterboard coating refers to the mounted. It provides ample opportunities for the realization of any design ideas. In such design options a lot of advantages:

• hinged structures will help to hide any roughness, unevenness, and at the same time electrical wiring or air ducts;
• drywall construction light, but very strong and durable;
• drywall will help to create multi-level spaces on the ceiling, which helps in the zoning of the room and additionally visually increases the height of the ceilings;
• maintenance of suspended structures will not be easy;
• drywall suitable for whitewashing or subsequent painting.

Stretch ceilings is one of the modern ways of interior design. They look great. They, as well as plasterboard coverings, belong to suspended. The basis of such coatings is a special PVC film, which is stretched using a special gun with a hot or cold method. This film has many options for colors and three options for surface texture (glossy, matte, satin). In their use of many advantages.

• They allow you to create multi-level spaces on the ceiling, helping to focus on different areas of the kitchen – living room.
• Stretch ceilings will save you from unexpected "floods" from the neighbors above, as the film is very durable and does not absorb water.
• Behind such surfaces, all engineering structures of the house (electrical cables, pipes) can be easily hidden.
• They are durable and do not lose their beautiful appearance.
• Their surfaces are easy to clean if they are dirty, without forgetting that sharp objects cannot be used for cleaning.

Stretch ceilings will be seamless, if the length of the ceiling does not exceed 5.5 m. If more, then docking is unavoidable.Of course, this design option is the most expensive, and for its installation you will have to spend a lot of time and hire specialists, but in the end you get a perfectly flat and beautifully decorated ceiling.

When planning the design of the ceiling in the kitchen – living room, it is important to take into account all the features of the room, the style of decoration and the personal wishes of family members. Simple rules will determine your choice.

• In case the kitchen is very small, it can be decorated in dark colors. Dark ceilings are more practical, as they have the least visible pollution. In addition, in some cases it will help to visually increase the depth of space.
• You should not use dark colors in rooms that are poorly lit, and vice versa, bright in cases where the room is well lit.
• Colored ceilings will help to make a bright accent on one of the zones of the kitchen – living room. But you should not forget that not every color combination is appropriate for use.
• Do not forget that each color carries its own emotional load: green calms, blue removes muscle tension, orange invigorates. White, blue or yellow colors increase the space.Orange and brown, on the contrary, will narrow it. Applying blue, do not forget that it is able to visually reduce the height of the ceilings. Using this, you can apply more vivid and cheerful colors in the kitchen, and arrange the living room in more restrained pastel colors.

• In the living room are appropriate warm colors in the design. In the kitchen, you can apply cold tones, as there is already quite hot from the stove.
• To choose the color of the ceiling covering to match the walls only when you want to increase the space of the room.
• For ceilings in the cooking zone, you can choose glossy surfaces, and for the living room, on the contrary, matte. This combination correctly divided the space into parts.
• Level plasterboard suspended structures in combination with stretch ceilings will create a smooth transition between the two rooms. Properly selected lights at different levels will create a feeling of lightness.
• Stretch ceilings with images of blue sky and treetops will look very nice in the living room area. So those present will have a feeling that they are in nature. LED lighting around the perimeter or inside the tension surface will create a feeling of diffused sunlight.
• In the rooms of classic style with low ceilings, whitewashed surfaces in combination with decorative elements of stucco molding will look very good.

For reflection. Having made the decision to connect the kitchen and living room together, you need to remember that this option brings you not only a gain in space, but also carries additional problems. If you cook a lot and often, then all odors and pollution from the kitchen area instantly get into the living room, which means you will have more cleaning. Above the stove it is necessary to install very powerful ventilation systems with replaceable filters.

Connecting the kitchen and living room into a single space will entail some changes in the layout of the walls. Important! Remember that for any redevelopment of the apartment requires a special permit. Independent demolition of supporting bearing walls can seriously damage the structural strength and safety of all residents in the house.

The division of space into zones can be achieved in various ways.

• Plasterboard wall or pillars.
• Using different levels of ceilings or using different textures of surfaces of ceiling coatings.
• Different surface surfaces can also cope with the task of space separation.
• For the zoning of the room you can use furnishings.
• Zoning using lighting devices.

Sometimes, instead of demolishing the walls, it is enough to expand the doorway, making a wide arched space of any shape. Instead of arches and walls, you can use small columns that will not only divide the space, but will also carry the meaning in a classic-style room. Space zoning lamps the most interesting design option.

• The central lighting is provided by a chandelier located in the center of the room. It is usually complemented by floor or wall lamps of various designs.
• Lighting can be point. In this case, the lamps are arranged in small groups to highlight certain places.
• Contour lighting helps to emphasize different levels of space, hide the seams and visually increase the height of the ceilings. It looks especially impressive.
• Raster lighting, using lamps in light reflectors, is made only in places with high ceilings.

Naturally, you can use various combinations of all types of lighting. For glossy surfaces, small spotlights are more suitable, and for the living room it is better to choose a large chandelier, which will be located above the table. If the surface of the ceiling is shiny, you should not use a lot of high-power lighting. This will create a light "overload" in the room.

It should be immediately taken into account that any lamp emits heat. This means that not every lamp is suitable for tensioning surfaces, since PVC film can deteriorate when heated. In this case, it is better to use lights with energy-saving lamps or LED lights.

Stretch ceilings are not combined with heavy chandeliers that simply can not be attached to the tension surface. For smaller luminaires, fixtures are installed to the ceiling stretch, having previously made technological cuts in films for them.

Constructions of drywall combined with any type of fixtures, but the most impressive built-in look.

The photos in this section illustrate the most advantageous design options for ceilings in kitchens-living rooms.We hope this will help you decide on the style of the room.

Design of stretch ceilings in the kitchen-living room, see the following video.