I dislike tray ceilings. I would rather have vaulted, cathedral or flat ceilings. imo, an "old new orleans style" home would not have tray ceilings.

thats what i was thinking. i just wanted to make sure i wasnt missing something.

Like so many things, they are a personal preference. They do not go with my style of home either. That said, I have been in homes (or seen pictures) where they do look okay. One thing that bothers me is when they are in so many rooms - like in Parade of Homes houses.

I dunno... I'm nearly finished building, enjoy the features I included, wish I'd taken the trouble to include a couple more.

So if the house is otherwise pretty straightforward, I think a tray in the master would be nice. The only thing I know about NOLA homes is that higher was always better for ceilings, so I don't think a tray would be out of the question.

That said, it's certainly possible to overwhelm with 'special touches' so that they cancel each other out, and seem frantic and forced-- sort of like Whitney Houston's singing.

I love the tray ceilings! We have one in our entry area and our Master Bedroom.

I wanted to add, to me - in my opinion, I think vaulted ceilings are very dated. I rather have just a reg. 9' ceiling instead of a vaulted.

i don't like tray ceilings. i much prefer a beamed or coffered ceiling or even just a plain ceiling. our builder was mentioning tray ceilings for a couple of rooms but it seems too much of a "new trick" for us... or atleast an early 90s! maybe in more contemporary styled houses but ours will be more of a traditional shingle style. we're doing a few coffered ceilings. please share pics soon!

It doesn't sound authentic for your house.

Just wondering if you're having these in your house. In case you don't know what I mean, there is a secondary door on each bedroom. One door is solid. One has louvers so air can circulate. I've seen this in the South -- even in a 'Summer Cottage' up North.

I was talking to an appraiser and he stated that people expect to get tray/coffered or any ceiling treatment as crown moldings on higher end homes.
But I agree that is not good to overdo them.

That's true, Marthaelena, but then it also depends on the style of home. Even though our home is high end, they do not fit our home at all and would detract not enhance. An appraiser in our community told us one house here has not sold since it is over 1.5M and does not have a pool, lake and/or ridge view.

Tinker, I probably should not have said vaulted (as in one slanted) ceilings, but there are a lot of people who say "vaulted" instead of "cathedral" so I wrote both.

here is a pic of our trayed ceilings we have them in our dining room, living room, master bedroom, office and foyer (as pictured). We love trayed ceilings it adds so much to a home.

Kulagal -- A single tray ceiling looks like an inverted tray. You can also have multiple 'banks' of inversions, stepping up and up.

A coffered ceiling has beams set crosswise one another to form squares or rectangles (open 'boxes'). A 'coffer' is a small box or chest.

Hey, Kulagal -- you on Maui?

As has been stated, your take on tray ceilings is all about taste and contrary to the aesthetics gestapo, there's really no such thing as "good taste". There's "politically correct taste", "today's fashion taste", "most popular taste", "designer's taste", "consistent-with-the-rest-of-the-house taste", etc. But "good taste" can only be determined after you define which jury you'd like to do the judging. In our house, we decided that DW and I would be the jury.

And as for our take on tray ceilings, we didn't put any in our current house but did in our first house. In the master, we chose a tray ceiling where the slope starts from a soffit about 18" from the walls. I don't care for tray ceilings where the slope starts from the wall. But then, that's MY taste, FWIW.

Bob

I thought I would post a couple pictures of ours. Our bedroom and office tray are trimmed out with crown molding and have rope lighting. Our entry tray is a double step tray (which should have been painted a little different)

entry:
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Office:
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closeup
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masterbedroom (ignore the pretty window treatments!)
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tinker, your trays are very beatiful!

Love your trays. I think it's just like anything else in building a house - a matter of personal taste. I think they add visual interest and richness if the room is big enough to carry them. I think they can be overdone, but then again, so can just about any decorative element. Trends come and go - pick what you love and build your house to please yourself, not to try and impress anyone. I'm doing trays in my dining room and masterbedroom because I like them there. My sunroom will have a cathedral ceiling and my great room and foyer will have two story ceilings because that's what I like.

Well, I have a bit of everything! I have flat in lots of rooms, coffered in the library (no photo though), tray in Dining Room, Living Room, Master bedroom, Media Room and Game Room, a dome in my Master bath, a groin vault between entry and kitchen and beamed cathedral in the Family Room. I don't think it's too much, but it's my house! I love variety. Here are some photos:

Living Room

Dining Room

Family Room

Hallway Groin Vault

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom Dome

Media

Game Room

Wishing this project were finished and I could move in!

I have also seen tray ceilings that do not have any crown moulding or anything and they also look very nice. If you are looking for a more simple look.

cursivesailor
Something to consider is the $$$ factor.
It is cheaper to frame down the tray than to manufacture the trusses with the recessed area to allow higher ceiling/tray. If they modify the truss is expensive specially if the tray is by a hip roof.

Kulagal, Our kitchen/breakfast area has a coffered ceiling. Scroll down to French Gray Island Kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our kitchen ceiling

I could see putting pressed tin ceilings in the kitchen, curviesailor.

I'm not really a fan of tray ceilings- although I do like the opportunity they provide for uplighting- but I have to say that cantmakeadecision's dome ceiling in the master bath is one of the prettiest things I've ever seen on this site! And, I love the family room! :)

thanks, dixiedoodle! I love that dome. I'm trying to figure out if I should put a paint finish on it....there is rope lighting there, too.

Someone said they thought vaulted ceilings are dated. I think vaulted/cathedral and coffered ceilings are timeless and tray ceilings are a fad that will be dated in the next 10-20 years. And of course I give my obligatory "JMHO."

kellyeng and all,

I guess everything changes - styles come and go. I don't think it matters much what kind of ceilings you have. Just be thankful you have a ceiling! And, if it's out of style or dated, you can just say it's "vintage"!!

I'm quite happy that I have shelter. However, that has nothing to do with my aesthetic taste in architectural details.

Are tray ceilings a fad? I thought they've been around for quite a while? I don't see them going out of style. I love ceiling details of all kinds! :c)

Gosh....

That wasn't intended to suggest taste didn't matter....just to say if you have a ceiling that others might consider dated, there's another way to look at it.

I like all my ceilings - and I have vaulted, coffered and tray, not to mention the plain old flat ones.