How to design and build a modern coffered ceiling

Come friends, let me take you on a journey. A journey of design and decisions. Of structural questions (consult a contractor!) and neck pain. For real- looking up and painting is no joke. Sanding is worse, but you don’t actually have to sand (more on that later)! Don’t run away just yet! The pay-off is BIG. It’s one of the best projects we’ve ever conceived and completed- and happens to be my personal favorite. A true triumph in our lake house. And unlike our beadboard ceilings upstairs, I would do this again. First, I’ll share a little background on how we landed on a “modern coffered ceiling”- I made that up, meaning it’s a coffered design that’s less deep (which I think looks sleeker, more modern) versus the traditional coffer where the panels are, you guessed it, deeper- then I’ll jump into the tutorial.

Our story begins with what I’ll call “the loft situation”. When we bought the house, there was a loft in the middle of the kitchen, not even 6 feet off of the ground. Matt had to duck just to walk through that half of the kitchen, not to mention the fact that it made everything in the space feel dark and cramped. The loft also had support beams that ran the entire length of the kitchen. We debated for a long time if they were structural. I said they weren’t, Matt wasn’t so sure. In the end, we decided they most likely were not supporting the house. The first clue? The ceiling was vaulted and there was a visible I-beam. The second clue was that, upon removing the loft, it appeared to have been added after the house was built and the support beams undulated like waves on the lake. Regardless, we had settled on building an 8 foot ceiling instead of leaving everything open which we figured would more than replace any support that was coming from the loft since it would take up the entire kitchen and not just half of it.

We had left over sheets of beadboard from the bedroom ceilings. In fact, we had exactly the right number of sheets for 10 rectangular sections of ceiling- no room for error. That’s how Matt came up with a flat or modern coffered ceiling design. A coffer is a sunken panel of virtually any shape, and as I mentioned earlier, coffered ceilings are traditionally several inches deep and have thick, beam-like, dividers. In our case, we wanted simple so we used 1×6 primed pine boards to outline the beadboard sheets instead of creating beams. This is also ideal for lower ceilings to create interest without losing head room. Before we did any of the detail work, Matt constructed the actual ceiling joists, which I am not going to go into detail about because we are not professionals, but Matt felt very comfortable doing the work and I also felt very confident in his abilities. Before we put up the beadboard and boards, we plotted out our lighting design which was a mix of recessed lighting and a chandelier for the dining area of the kitchen, and also added foam insulation panels.

Tutorial time!

Materials:

• Beadboard sheets
• Primed pine boards
• Hole saw, if installing lighting
• 16 or 18 gauge nailer (we used 16 gauge for extra strength, 18 gauge is the standard for trim)
• Wood filler and/or spackle
• 120 grit sand paper, block, or power sander OR baby wipes
• Work gloves
• Safety glasses
• Ladder and/or step stool
• Drywall lift (optional but helpful)
• Clamps (optional but helpful)
• Interior flat paint
• Wooster short cut brush or similar
• Foam roller cover and paint roller (I used 4″)
• Handy Paint Co. cups (I used this one and this one)
• Drop cloth (optional)

I’ve written out the process in a list form and below the list are a series of photos to give you a chronological visual of the project.

Process:

1. Determine your design including detailed measurements. Do not skip this step. You’ll save yourself time and money making sure you know exactly what you need. This step was crucial for us because a.) We had the exact amount of beadboard sheets we needed to cover the ceiling and b.) If we made a mistake it would mess everything up and we’d have to start over because the beadboard we had is no longer sold. If you are installing lighting, include that in your plan.
2. Install insulation while/if the ceiling is open. Everyone’s needs and situation will differ. If you’re applying the beadboard over an existing drywalled or plastered ceiling and you know you don’t have insulation in the attic, now is an ideal time to cut into that (carefully- cutting through wiring is no good, just ask us) or go into an existing attic and add it. If you already have an insulated attic, move on to the next step! Matt is a huge proponent of insulation and I used to think, “Why?” but now it’s more like, “Why didn’t we do this sooner!?”. I have seen, or rather felt, insulation make a huge difference for us in how comfortable the lake house temperature remains in any season, which makes me want to be there more often. For us, we basically created an attic space. If you are doing the same, you’ll want to make sure you create attic access somewhere, whether it’s in the ceiling or from another room (for us, we will cut an access point into our upstairs hallway because it will be the least obtrusive spot and we won’t need a ladder to get in. Our layout is so strange, which, for this projet, has turned out to be a rare benefit of the wonky additions that were made to our house in the 90s, but likely won’t be the case for most people).
3. Install the beadboard sheets on the ceiling. We nailed ours directly to the open joists and did not put up any sheetrock. If you are applying the sheets to an existing, closed ceiling, you’ll need to use a stud finder and mark their location with pencil. To be safe, I would also suggest using adhesive and nailing. Before securing each sheet to the ceiling, I would also advise marking where each sheet will go on the joists, ceiling, and/or walls. The sheets to not have to touch but you shouldn’t have too much distance in between the sheets that would prevent the cross boards from covering the gap. You will also want to pay attention to how you are orienting the sheets. Beadboard has one end with a bead and the other without, so if your bead is facing east on the first sheet, all the ends with beads should face east as well (they can face any direction, east is just one example, the important thing is that they line up).
4. Install lighting. If you’re adding lighting, that is. We centered the recessed LED lighting within the coffered rectangles and over the countertops, and centered the chandelier over the dining area. Because we used quick-connect lights, the junction boxes only had to be within 18 inches of where the hole in the ceiling would be which allowed Matt to install the junction boxes on the joists before cutting the holes. We had to be more precise with the chandelier because it used an existing electrical box and traditional wiring but we still cut the hole at the same time as the other lighting and crossed our fingers. You will have to account for whatever type of lighting you use to decide where in the process you should install it. If you are installing lighting, I will say the hole saw was super easy and honestly a little thrilling to use. I highly recommend it!
5. Install the trim and cross boards. These are the boards that are replacing the beams found in a traditional coffered ceiling. They should cover the gaps between beadboard sheets and also serve as trim around the perimeter of the ceiling. We used a 16 gauge finish nailer to attach the boards to the joists and started with the perimeter, followed by the cross boards and ending with the short boards down the center to complete the coffers (see the third picture below).
6. Fill nail holes and sand. There are two ways to go about this if you are painting the ceiling like we did. I did it the hard way and only learned after I was almost done painting from my uncle, who is a professional painter (he’s done work for famous clients, including the owners of a national paint brand) that there is an easier way. The hard way OR if you are staining wood: fill all nail holes with wood filler and then sand. It’s a literal pain in the neck and shoulders and arms because you’re just constantly looking up. I used an oscillating multi-tool with a sanding attachment most of the time. If you choose to or have to sand, make sure you thoroughly clean all of the dust before the next steps. I have found the quickest, and therefore easiest for me, way to clean the dust is to attach a microfiber cloth to a Swiffer mop and run it over every part of the ceiling (this works really well for walls, too). Be sure to have at least two cloths on hand when the first one gets saturated. However, if you are painting wood, I’m told it’s much easier and less time consuming to use spackle instead of wood filler to fill the nail holes and wipe with a baby wipe. No sanding, no dust- but only if you’re painting.
7. Caulk the seams. We all do our best to get woodwork as flush as possible, but inevitably there will be gaps. You’ll need to caulk the perimeter and the inside of each coffer. If you have any extra deep seams, backer rod is a wonderful invention to keep you from wasting a bunch of caulk. You can use your finger and a glass of water, wet paper towels, or baby wipes to smooth each bead of caulk. Matt doesn’t do any of those things and uses a dry finger and a bunch of paper towels to clean his hands. It seems harder this way but I haven’t actually done it. Read the tube of caulk to see how long you have to wait to paint to make sure it’s set before you start the last step which obviously is painting!
8. Time to paint! It took me over 12 hours but this was my favorite step. I love to listen to a latin pop station while I paint- it puts me in a good mood and I’d be lying if I said zero dancing occurred. I basically cheated doing two coats for a couple of reasons. 1.) Everything was pre-primed white and I used white paint. My suggestion is to use a flat paint for any ceiling because you’ll see fewer imperfections (the entire kitchen is Delicate White by Pittsburgh Paints). 2.) I used my handy-dandy Wooster short-cut brush to paint each section and then rolled over it with a 4″ foam roller. I think this may have been a bit meticulous but it worked for me. By the time I finished brush painting, the paint had dried a little and then I’d roll on the “second” coat. I put it in quotes because I should really just have painted one entire coat, let dry, then rolled on the second. However, the method I used worked great for me. I could keep track of each rectangle as to not get lost in a sea of white paint and I could see anything I missed much easier. The brush was crucial due to the beads in the beadboard and the lip created by the coffers. A ladder and two different sizes of Handy Paint cups made this logistically easier (Handy Paint Co. makes a cup for short rollers!).

I am proud of this project for so many reasons. We designed it ourselves completely- neither of us had seen anything like it before (I have seen one other person do this now, about a year after we completed our ceiling). Matt built an entire ceiling structure! It’s gorgeous, a truly beautiful architectural detail that brings the space to life. It’s the first thing people comment on when they enter this kitchen, even with the statement floor tile. It completes the goal of having a white kitchen that’s not boring. With the design aesthetic being a Swedish cottage (Chautauqua has a historically large population with Swedish ancestry) I planned for the house to be white, light, and airy, but adding the texture makes it pop instead of falling, well, flat- haha.

This project was worth the sweat equity for sure! I cannot recommend it enough.

Thanks for reading!

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