11 Marvelous Tented Rooms – How to Install Fabric Ceilings and Walls – HouseBeautiful.com

WILLIAM ABRANOWICZ

VIP Cabanas, circus tents, canopy beds in sky-high turrets: There's something dramatic about bold fabric hugging the walls and draped overhead. Not since Napoleon's time have tented rooms been this popularbut designers today are reimagining them with so much contemporary style. The fabric-cloaked ceiling trickwhether simply tacked on or fully upholsteredoffers practical value as well: It can help insulate a drafty space, hide architectural flaws, and even mask soffits and pipes. Keep reading to see eleven fabulous, over-the-top tented rooms for a design lesson in raising the roof.

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1A Daring Dining Room

Walking through the doors to this dining room by Miles Redd cocooned in blue zigzags is like stepping into Alice's Wonderland. The dentil trim introduces an extra layer of texture and pattern play for a showstopping wow factor. But mind you, rooms like this don't come cheap. A professionally installed tented room can be quite an investment (don't worryjust a few clicks away you'll find detailed DIY instructions at a much friendlier price point). Because of the labor and craftsmanship involved in the templating, sewing, and installing, it can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $50,0o0 according to Redd.

2A Dramatic Sitting Nook

While tented ceilings can bring a spirit of fun to any room, you'll want to make sure the ceilings are high enough to accommodate the extra fullness and depth fabric will bring. The high and round vaulted ceilings in this sitting enclave designed by Leandra Fremont-Smith are perfect. The designer used contrasting buttons to punctuate 40 yards of fabrics with tufting.

3A Sunny Vestibule

In this cheerful vestibule designed by Lilse McKenna, the walls and ceilings are upholstered on a flat surface, but the blue trim borders and geometric lines leading from the corners to the pendant light create the illusion of a tent-like shape. So while vaulted ceilings are a natural fit for tented rooms, don't let a straight-edge ceiling limit you!

4A Fantasy Floral Guest Room

This eclectic home designed by Sean Scherer is a treasure trove of antiques, whimsical fabrics, and cheeky decor that perfectly showcases the wry wit of Grandmillennial style. In this guest bedroom, vintage curtains were stretched and hung from wooden rods, then attached to the walls and ceiling to create a fantasy space. "You really do feel like you're inside a floral tent," Scherer says.

5A Transportive Children's Room

In this children's room, interior designer Emily Henderson let the child's favorite place and activity guide the theme: The canopy over the bed is hung by a rod, evoking the kind of tent you'd pitch at a campsite, so the room really feels like a camping experience.

6A Pretty Passageway

Fabric can make awkward and/or transitional spaces feel much more special, even if you install it yourself. Here, Aldous Bertram transformed this narrow apartment passageway into a magical portal in a few simple steps. First, he held one end of his affordable Etsy fabric to the height of the wall and cut, then he flipped extra fabric over the end, loosened it to swag, and secured it using a hammer and picture nails. Finally, he used hem tape to cover the raw edges with trim for a more a polished edge. Taking it one extra mile, he created a makeshift door using fabric and curtain rods over the frame. The loose, drapey effect brings dimension to the flat ceilings.

7A Victorian Home Office

When Miles Redd (or, as he's known around these parts, the crowned King of Tented Ceilings) first stepped into this Brooklyn home office, he felt "like a bug trapped in a mason jar." It's a 1980s glass solarium addition to a 1820s townhouse, so to make them feel consistentand to transform an afterthought into the main eventhe tented it. Stretching from the upholstered walls to the curved ruched canopy, the blue batik fabric cools down and softens up the space (temperature-wise and visually).

8A Rustic Escape

Though tented ceilings have a tendency to look fancy and decadent, they can actually fit right into any environmentit just depends on the fabric. This attic hangout space in a home renovated by two brothers is given a softer ambiance with a tufted upholstered ceiling but still fitIn general, tenting is a not-so-quick but highly effective complements the rustic materials like exposed wood and brick walls.

9A Whimsical Dining Room

"The dining room was our greatest challenge, but it ended up becoming the most exciting room in the house," says designer Sarah Gilbane of this fun space. The theme was vintage Everglades so decorative artist Brian Leaver painted the palms and flamingos over a grasscloth wallpaper, then created a trompe l'oeil tented ceiling. Painting over texture-rich materials instead of straight onto the wall can add even more depth, as proven here.

10A Bohemia Jewel Box

California interior designer Peter Dunham turned a tiny bedroom into an elevated bohemian paradise with a floor to ceiling canopy that takes up almost the entire space, proving that embracing smallness by going big with fabric can work in your favor. Besides, extravagant canopies are great way to to get that volume and drama that tented and upholstered ceilings achieve but with much less of a lift both upon installation and removal.

11A Timeless Bedroom

Given their playful circus roots, tented ceilings are perfect for kids rooms. In this bedroom by Amanda Lindroth, the playful drum pendant pairs well with the red trim and blue and white stripes while also igniting the imagination (perfect a young child) but it's classic enough to age gracefully as the inhabitant grows.

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11 Marvelous Tented Rooms - How to Install Fabric Ceilings and Walls - HouseBeautiful.com