Yahoo Finance How A High Ceiling Can Impact Your Home Experience
Over the years, many studies have found that things like colours or our musical choices can have a profound effect on our emotions and state of mind. But have you considered how the height of your ceiling has an impact on you?
Think about the last time you walked into a living room with high ceilings. Did you find yourself feeling a little "different"? Perhaps you found yourself feeling a bit explorative, more open, or even freeing!
Well, research by Joan Meyers-Levy, a professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, suggests that differences in ceiling height can affect the way we think and subsequently, act. Who would have thought!
Relevant Guide
So How Does A High Ceiling Impact How We Think and Act?
1) Clearer and improved thinking
Higher ceilings induce a clearer state of mind and results in improved thinking. With working from home being the norm, a high ceiling could help you stay focused and improve your decision-making abilities.
2) It helps us feel free, more energetic, and creative
A high ceiling may prime our thoughts to be associated with freedom, and enhance our energy levels – think: soaring high above the clouds!
The psychological freedom we feel can also be translated into more creative, explorative, and abstract thinking. Meanwhile, lower ceilings may prime us to think in a more confined and restricted manner.
3) Better health
With the positive effects of high ceilings on our mental state, and the understanding that our mental health plays a part in influencing our physical wellbeing, it is reasonable to expect improved physical health from the perceived positivity that comes with having a higher ceiling.
With all those benefits, we take a look at some of the other advantage and disadvantages of having a high ceiling, to help you decide if it's right for you.
Pros Of A High Ceiling
1) New normal, new way of thinking
After spending so much time at home recently, having a high ceiling may help you feel less cooped up, giving you some much needed mental relief!
Since you've got that much extra space, you can even place a few plants on the wall to add to the therapeutic feel, even going so far as to create a living green wall.
2) Ventilation
We all know hot air rises and therefore, high ceilings allow the hot air to rise above, making the room or lower spaces of the house cooler in the process.
The height provides more space for air to circulate around the house and offers better ventilation, especially during the hotter months. Installing taller doors and bigger windows also enables more airflow within the property.
3) Higher ceiling, higher resale value
Looking to sell your property? Well, high ceilings are an excellent selling point! You will find almost every property agent immediately calling attention to the height of the ceiling to prospective buyers.
Besides giving the home a more spacious and airy feel, you could also command a higher price for your property when the time comes to sell it.
Cons of A High Ceiling
1) Basic maintenance can be a challenge
Things like cleaning or changing a ceiling fan, replacing a light bulb, or giving your home a fresh coat of paint, can be made more intensive depending on how high the ceiling is.
You will likely need a taller ladder (which is, of course, riskier for the climber), which would then give you the additional task of finding a suitable place to store it.
2) Noise pollution
High ceilings amplify noises such as doors slamming, because the sound waves take longer to reach and bounce off hard surfaces.
This would cause some disturbance in the long-run if you can't stand the echoes, so you would need to add sound-absorbing wall hangings to dampen the noise.
3) Ceilings that are too high, makes it too hot
Having a ceiling that is too high might make it harder to achieve uniform temperature within the house. On really hot days, this means higher electricity costs if you’re running the air-cond (or multiple air-conds!).
While the advantages still outweigh the disadvantages of having a high ceiling, you might be wondering if there is an ideal height for your ceiling.
What Is A Good Ceiling Height?
The average ceiling height in Malaysia is between 8 to 10 feet for both landed properties and high-rises, although you can find variances depending on the development or personal preferences.
Since we need and love our ceiling fans, the optimum height for the ceiling should be 9 feet, to give some height allowance for proper airflow.
Installing fan blades further away from the ceiling allows better air circulation and helps with energy efficiency. Even its direction can make an impact!
Decoration And High Ceiling Designs
With all that ceiling height, you have the wonderful opportunity of tapping into your creativity to play with different design styles and wall decorations!
Treat it as your canvas and give it a warm and homey feel. From paintings to plants, and large wall accents, your creativity is only limited by your imagination.
Paintings and photo frames arranged in an asymmetrical manner is a quick and affordable method to decorate lots of empty space.
With the added benefit of increased vertical space, you can select much taller plants (small trees, even!) to add life to your space.
While some may choose to create an accent wall using a different shade of paint, why not use an entirely different material altogether?
Give Yourself The Illusion of A Higher Ceiling
Don’t have a high ceiling? Well, you can consider creating the illusion of a high ceiling by painting your walls with vertical stripes, or uplighting by getting light fixtures that point upwards.
You can also try painting your ceiling a lighter shade than your walls, or raise the height from which you hang your curtain rods.
Whatever you decide, the overall benefits of having high ceilings are clear. Just be mindful about how high ceilings affect the way you think and act as an occupant of the home.
Are you looking for inspiration to decorate your home to give it a minimalist or boho look? We list seven inspiring IG influencers to help you jazz up your style at home!
