I love the tray ceiling effect, but I do not want to spend a lot of money to completely renovate. Any suggestions on how I can create the same effect?

A tray ceiling gives a room a certain panache that you just don’t get with a typical, flat ceiling. But elegance doesn’t have to be expensive. Just ask Martin Thomas, marketing manager for CurveMakers.  His company has been converting right-angled doorways into arched ones since 1996, and now offers a coffered ceiling kit to further raise the style factor in homes across the Triangle.

CurveMakers creates the look by building a medium-density fiberboard perimeter to go around the edge of your ceiling. “Basically, it attaches directly to the existing drywall that’s on the ceiling,” said Thomas. Your current ceiling becomes what would be the inset, raised portion of a tray ceiling.

The kits, which start at about $750 for a 16-by-16-foot room, offer significant savings compared to renovation both in terms of materials and labor, since they are designed for do-it-yourself installation. CurveMakers provides complete instructions, and can refer you to a qualified installer if that is your preference.

A number of styles are available to fit a range of homes. “We offer a few different layouts that we’ve come up with, and that’s not the limit by any means,” said Thomas. “You could get as fancy as you wanted to.” Just give CurveMakers your room dimensions and choose a style, and they can deliver your customized kit in pre-cut pieces, ready to install.

No room is too small for the added beauty one of these coffered ceiling kits can provide. CurveMakers just adjusts the kit proportionately to the room. “It adds kind of a unique detail, it adds depth to a ceiling in any room,” said Thomas. “It makes the ceiling really stand out as something special.”

Karen Rhodes is a freelance writer

Photo above courtesy of Curvemakers