NAVIGATION
One of the tricks I’ve used when trying to make tiny houses I design feel larger is to make the spaces have taller than normal ceilings. This draws your eyes up creating a sense of a larger space.
While my tiny house is only 150 square feet, I have 11-foot-tall ceilings. So I wanted share some tiny house ceiling ideas that get your visitors to look up when they walk into your tiny house.
Hi, I’m Ryan
Having helped build over 3,000 tiny homes, I’ve learned a few things about tiny house design. In such a small space, the details matter, which is why even the ceiling of your tiny home on wheels matters.
One big decision when it comes to your tiny house celling is what your wall cladding is going to be. In many cases, this will actually extend up into the ceiling. In some tiny home designs, the ceiling might be the same material, but a different color — it might have a wash or stain applied or have a contrasting color to anchor the inside ceiling.
Tiny House Ceiling Ideas
The ceiling of your tiny home brings a lot of character to a tiny home. It sets a tone and can really impact the sense of scale with a tiny home. You need to rely on every trick in the book to make a tiny home feel large, so here are some interesting tiny house ceiling ideas that do just that.
This asymmetrical ceiling makes it clear that this is a modern tiny house ceiling. Like the other example, the impact is made on the ceiling. Notice that the flooring mirrors the material of the ceiling, while the white walls create distance between the two, making the space feel tall.
A simple wooden board ceiling with exposed beams adds some nice architectural detail to this space. Beams like this can be expensive, but lend a lot of character. In my tiny house, I used some very high-quality Douglas fir beams that were nearly perfect clear grain. At $130 apiece, they were expensive, but since they were exposed beams, they added so much visual interest.
Splurging on some exotic woods for your tiny home ceiling is another option to consider. In a traditional house, this would be cost prohibitive, but in a tiny home, you can afford to invest in luxury wood ceilings like sandalwood, purple heart wood, walnut, ipe, cedar, or teak. Expensive wood species for your interior siding and interior roofing are totally an option because you need so little of it.
Wooden Ceiling Designs For THOWs
This might be the best tiny house ceiling idea I’ve seen. Light wood keeps the space bright while still adding a great design element that makes this tiny house living room feel very tall. The direction of the shiplap ceiling and walls make this space feel even bigger by drawing your eye out and away.
This white shiplap tiny house ceiling with dark beams makes this space stand out. The tall but narrow windows in this tiny house living space make it feel taller than it actually is.
This tiny home on wheels does a great job mirroring the ceiling design and flooring. The dark stained natural wood with heavy beams as ceiling accents looks great with the metal plate accents.
What I like about this ceiling is that they built it with a very shallow pitch. This lets you have more headroom in the loft bedroom. They also carried the brown tones throughout in the couch and seating of the living room.
Corrugated Metal Ceiling Ideas For A Tiny House On Wheels
Metal ceilings can be a cheap ceiling option for a tiny house, making it easy to install your ceiling with larger metal panels. There are several options for metal, but corrugated is one of the more popular choices because of how easy it is to find and how affordable it can be, and with the right design, it can look great.
This house features a very simple corrugated metal ceiling design. What makes it so successful is the installation of the metal panels themselves — you don’t see any seams and the edges are trimmed out very well to make it look very clean.
A Cottagecore small she shed uses the corrugated metal roof as an accent ceiling in this space. Since this space isn’t for full time living, you don’t need to worry about insulation as much as you would in a full-time THOW.
These are interesting corrugated metal ceiling tiles that have been rusted in this tiny home. They did a good job of making this rustic look stay clean with the drop ceiling frames being rusted too, but still very straight.
I’m in love with this rustic kitchen with a metal ceiling. This little homestead kitchen looks so cozy and yet still practical in a small house.
Nothing says modern tiny house like a metal ceiling, and this shed style inside is just that.[/one_half]
Paneled Ceiling Ideas In Your Tiny House
Ceiling panels are a very practical, affordable, and simple solution for your inside of your THOW, if your style allows for it. The large swaths of uniform material isn’t always the most eye catching, but it has a utilitarian appeal.
This box shaped tiny house uses these painted wood panels on the ceiling.
Plywood ceilings are another popular ceiling design idea for modern tiny houses.
Panel ceilings can be dressed up with faux beams or nice trim work.
Vintage Tiny Ceiling Tiles In A Tiny Home
Depending on the look of your tiny home that you want, vintage ceiling tiles made of punched or molded tin or metal can add a lot of personality to your little home on wheels.
Antique ceiling tiles come in a million looks and styles. You can leave them in their raw form, you can oxidize them to make them look rustic, or you can paint or apply a wash to them. So many options are available and they can really add a nice touch to a vintage tiny house ceiling.
Curved Ceiling Tiny Homes
Curved ceilings have a very homey feel to them, though they’re not for the faint of heart if you’re building your own tiny home. These two are actually from friends of mine, who built these themselves.
This is my friend’s Vardo tiny home with an arched ceiling made by hand.
This is the Lucky Penny tiny house with a curved ceiling with an integrated skylight.
Small House Living Room Ceiling Design
The living room is the main room of your tiny house and the one that tends to have the tallest ceilings in most tiny house designs. That makes it a key design element for this room.
I think what makes this ceiling is that they defined the edges well with this accent.
A light wood board style ceiling keeps this tiny house feeling open and airy.
This bead board paneling makes a good-looking ceiling while also being a pretty cheap option. Because you can buy these in 4 x 8 panels, sometimes even longer to avoid seams, you can put this up quickly
Consider using unique woods with great tones and colors, then sealing with a clear coat.
Ceiling Ideas For Tiny House Bedrooms
Your loft bedroom ceiling is something you’ll be staring at quite a bit. I’ve spent hours in my loft before I fall asleep looking at the wood grain on the ceiling of my tiny house bedroom.
Tiny House Ceiling Alternatives
There are so many options and ideas for your tiny house ceiling that it can be difficult to figure out what is right for you. My biggest piece of advice is start with a style and then follow that concept throughout the house. Look at the ceiling ideas here and see what you come up with!
Your Turn!
- What ceilings options are you considering for your tiny home?
- What’s the best tiny house ceiling idea you’ve seen?
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