A dome ceiling is simply an arch that spins around a central axis at its apex to create a hollow upper sphere. It is a beautiful addition to any home that can easily, affordably and with a little planning bring the “WOW” factor. As we begin to discuss the dome ceiling, we will begin by considering where to locate it, lighting, how to build, how to drywall, how to finish, how to paint, and then close by discussing how to trim a dome ceiling.
Location
First thing to think about when planning for a dome ceiling is location. When thinking about the best location remember you will need adequate room above your ceiling to build your dome ceiling. A dome ceiling pops up in your attic space so keep an eye out for any interference with your roof and 2nd floor living areas.
Most Popular Areas For A Dome Ceiling:
Foyer
Master Bathroom
Master Bedroom
Kitchen
Lighting
Before you begin to build your dome ceiling ask yourself about lighting. You can light your dome ceiling 2 ways. The traditional method is to simply add a chandelier from the center of the dome. But by adding a little extra step you can give your dome ceiling an architectural detail by adding a light ring.
What is a light ring? Inner light rings are an easy way to add indirect lighting to your dome ceiling. The inner light ring creates a 6” trough around the inside of your dome ceiling to add lighting too.
Popular indirect lighting options:
Rope Lighting: Pro- More Affordable. Con- Not as bright
LED Lights: Pro- Very bright. Con- Expensive
Build
Now that you figured out where your dome ceiling will be located and how you are going to light your dome ceiling you can now begin to build it. It’s simple! Get a dome ceiling kit from www.archwaysandceilings.com , follow simple instructions/videos on how to install and presto!! Your dome ceiling will be built perfectly and be ready to finish. Watch the “How To” video here: http://www.archwaysandceilings.com/blog/dome-ceiling
Finish
Now that you have your framed dome ceiling in place it is now time to think about what method you are going to apply to finish out your dome. Depending on what part of the country you are from may help you decide on which method works the best for you. We have learned that people in certain parts of the country are more used to using certain methods and these are the 3 most popular ways.
Stucco
Plaster
Drywall
Here in Texas and by far the most popular is drywall. When you drywall a dome ceiling you leave yourself a multitude of options on where you want to take your dome ceiling next. So how do you drywall a dome ceiling? Watch here:
Once you have finished drywalling your dome ceiling it is time to think about the particular finish to add.
Popular Finishes
Venetian plaster
Slick Finish
Spray texture
hand trowel textured finish
All of these will options will help create a custom finish giving your dome ceiling its own unique characteristic. Not to mention give you options on how much you want invest in finishing out your dome ceiling.
Paint
Painting your dome ceiling is just as important as picking its location, lighting and finish.
Popular Painting Methods
Solid Color
Faux Finish
Mural or Stenciled art
Trim
The last step in finishing your dome ceiling is deciding on whether or not you would like to add a custom feature like trim to your dome ceiling. Some of customers don’t add any trim at all to the dome ceiling because it looks great with out it but some do. So which is the best option for you? Thinking about your budget and the price level of your home will help decide the best solution. Adding custom features like trim can become expensive but there are several ways to add trim at different price levels.
3 ways:
Add a bendable rubber mold to the inside radius of the dome ceiling is the fastest and most affordable way to add trim.
Have access a good trim carpenter that can build it onsite for your dome ceiling
Call your local millwork shop and have them fabricate the molding to match the radius of your dome.
If you can make it through all of these steps then you can safely say that you will have a beautiful dome ceiling that will be the topic of conversation when prospective homebuyers or guest visit your home.
…..So Remember! We are Archways & Ceilings Made Easy and we make it easy every step of the way.
Ever wonder how to drywall a dome ceiling or wonder how to get drywall to bend? Well, Archways and Ceilings Made Easy will show you how to properly sheetrock a domed ceiling. Remember Archways & Ceilings is with you every step of the way.
Looking for a good design or idea to incorporate into your home. Well, take a look below and see different types of ceilings from groin vaults, dome ceilings, barrel vaults, cove ceilings and archways. Get ideas and see what works best where. Click photo book to enlarge.
Come on out and see the Idea Home at the Great Big Texas Home Show March 11-13, 2011 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas!
Why Come?
Sandlin Custom Homes has brought their innovative home design and superior quality to create a beautiful home right there on the front door steps of Cowboy Stadium. Every visitor will have the opportunity to walk through the house to see this magnificent home and all of its features. Click Here for more information about the Idea Home.
Also, each visitor will be able to enter Cowboy Stadium to check out all the latest and greatest products for the home and garden market. Click Here for Ticket Prices & Admission.
Do you have a project coming up and are wondering how you are going to frame some of the rounded or vaulted ceilings in your home? Well look no further, we are the missing piece of the puzzle. Archways & Ceilings Made Easy specializes in creating prefabricated wood framing kits to help create these beautiful ceiling treatments.
What is a prefabricated wood framing kit?
A prefabricated wood framing kit is simply a preformed arched ceiling that is assembled on the job-site. We manufacture each kit to the customers specifications and give them detailed instructions on how to assemble. If you can follow a simple step by step instruction sheet or follow our “How to” Videos then adding a rounded ceiling or vaulted ceiling will be easy! Our kits can be manufactured for Groin Vaults, Domed Ceilings, Barrel Vaults, and Coved Ceilings.
Archways and Ceilings Made Easy has perfected the method of creating arched ceilings! We can create any arched ceiling to any measurment, make it into a simple kit and ship directly to the jobsite. Not to mention every arched ceiling kit comes with detailed instructions and “How To” videos that can be watched either on our website (www.archwaysandceilings.com) or on YouTube (www.youtube.com/archking57). We make it easy for anyone to add that special architectural detail to a home.
Did you know you can add custom features to your custom ceiling? Whether you are adding a barrel ceiling, groin ceiling, dome ceiling or cove ceiling you can always add custom features to make each of these ceilings unique. A few ways to customize a ceiling is by adding a light well or a reveal.
A light well or light ring allows for accent lighting to be added after drywall to help accentuate your custom ceiling with mood lighting or sometimes as a direct light source. See examples below
Adding a reveal to your ceiling is simply completed when you slightly furr in a particular ceiling. When you build your ceiling in slightly you create a unique ceiling that becomes more noticeable. See example below of how we take a standard cove ceiling and add a reveal. It looks like a giant piece of crown molding.
When you are able to add a light well or a reveal you will ultimately help transform your custom ceiling into an eye popping feature of a home.
When designing a home it is important to incorporate architectural details such as groin vaults, dome ceilings, coved ceilings and barrel vaults. These particular additions will help take your home to the next level.
Here are some ideas for your next project:
Many Homes have long hallways and are often over looked, but this is a great place to add a series of groin ceilings. A groin ceiling will add character and bring that old world feel to any home. With a little planning up front, most hallways can incorporate a groin vault detail. The hallway below is an example of taking a normal boring hallway and bumping it up to the next level. Also, these particular groins will have columns built underneath them to accent and capture the true old world architectural design.
Domed Ceilings are another popular detail that can be easily incorporated into most homes. Often you can find these ceilings in foyers, master bedrooms and bathrooms. One place that can be overlooked is over the stairs. In this particular case, the home had unwanted roof rafters that would leave the home with hard funky lines when finished. So in order to avoid this, we domed the top of the stairway not only to add a little design but also to hide the pitch of the roof.
Note: The Archways & Ceilings Product can be easily modified and custom made to any home. See the example below of how we adjusted the dome rafters to go up and around the window.
Another design element that can be incorporated in most homes, would be the barrel ceiling. The barrel vault is great because it has more leeway for a home. What I mean by this, is the rise of the arch can easily be altered to fit the needs of any room. The barrel vault can either be a full half circle, elliptical, or a soft arch. For example, if you have plenty of ceiling height then a half circle barrel is often preferred, but if you do not have a lot of room to work with, then a softer barrel would be preferred. Not to mention the barrel vault can easily be intersected with conjoining archways. See example below.
Finally, pop up ceilings are most often overlooked and left square or rectangle in shape. The cove ceiling is a perfect fit for these particular ceilings. The cove will bring a subtle curve to your boxy ceiling and add a softer look. The cove ceiling is great when accompanied with accent lighting.
So remember, take a little time and plan plan plan. With a little planning, your next home will look like it should be on the cover of a magazine. Whether you add a groin ceiling, domed ceiling, cove ceiling or barrel vault the finished product will help take your home to the next level.
Take a look at these finished Archways and Ceilings Made Easy projects. We are blessed to be able to participate with each of these wonderful builders. We completed groin vaults, dome ceilings, barrel vaults, coved ceilings and more. So enjoy!
A dome ceiling is a beautiful architectural gem that quickly adds value to any home. However, the problem has been affordably adding these gems given the labor skills and time required along with the lumber needed to construct on site. Luckily, Archways & Ceilings has solved this problem with their quick, easy, and affordable dome kits. Let’s answer the following questions. How does a dome kit from Archways & Ceilings compare to building a dome on site? How much skill is required to install an Archways & Ceilings dome kit? How much time is required to install an Archways & Ceilings dome kit?
Dome ceilings historically have been very expensive to achieve given the extensive labor and material required. For example, if you were to build a 6 foot dome ceiling, you could safely wager that this would take two skilled carpenters eight hours to build at about $60 dollars an hour. So, labor alone would be just shy of $500. When you look at the lumber bill needed to build this 6 foot dome you would be close to $600 at a minimum. However, if you used a dome kit from Archways & Ceilings, the kit itself would run you $329.95. This is almost half the cost of just the materials. Secondly, our 6 foot dome kit would install in less than 30 minutes. Yes, we are not exaggerating. We have an you tube video of a local framer installing in less than 10 minutes. We have simplified the construction process so drastically that if you can pull the trigger on a nail gun and paint by color than chances are good that you could install our dome kits. Let’s recap. You can either build a dome ceiling on site at a minimum cost to you for $1,100, OR you can buy a dome kit from Archways & Ceilings and install for less than $400.
If saving nearly 70% isn’t enough, then keep this in mind that you have the ability to customize the size of your dome to the nearest 1/8” for the same low prices. All our dome kits are built to your measurements. Furthermore, our quality is unsurpassed. I think it is fair to say that we are living up to our “Made Easy” motto. We have made the choice easy for you easy to make. We will save you time, money, and improve your quality. Now that’s a dome ceiling made easy with an Archways & Ceilings Dome Kit.
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Watch How Quick & Easy Archways & Ceilings Dome Kits are:
A dome ceiling is simply an arch that spins around a central axis at its apex to create a hollow upper sphere. It is a beautiful addition to any home that can easily, affordably and with a little planning bring the “WOW” factor. As we begin to discuss the dome ceiling, we will begin by considering where to locate it, lighting, how to build, how to drywall, how to finish, how to paint, and then close by discussing how to trim a dome ceiling.
Lighting
Popular Finishes 
Paint
