Decorative Ceilings

4–10 days, longer for more complex designs.

Living rooms, dining areas, bedrooms, entrance halls, lobbies and boutique spaces. Stepped and lit designs bring the ceiling down a little, so we measure the existing ceiling height at the survey and design around it.

LED strips use little power. Consumption depends on the strip's wattage per metre and the length of the run; the exact figure is on the chosen product's label.

Yes, from your phone or with a remote control.

Yes. We plan the design around the size of your chandelier and its fixing point.

Rule of thumb: below 2.60 m a stepped ceiling does not improve a room, it presses it down. Each step costs 8–12 cm; a two-level design approaches 20 cm, which turns a 2.50 m room into a 2.30 m one. Between 2.60 and 2.80 m, a single step with concealed cove lighting is the right balance. Above 2.80 m, multi-level designs carry easily. Where height is tight we suggest a perimeter cove alone — similar effect, far less loss.

Three things. Power: 9–14 W per metre is enough for a wall-washing effect; less looks weak, more runs hot. Colour accuracy: in living spaces we specify CRI above 90 — cheap strips sit around 70 and make wood, leather and skin tones look flat. Colour temperature: 2700–3000 K reads warm for a living room, 4000 K neutral for a work area. We size the driver with at least 20 % headroom over the strip's load; a driver running at full capacity fails early.

Different tools for different jobs. A stretch ceiling costs the least height at 3–5 cm, is seamless and fast, becomes a full luminous panel when backlit, and can be removed and refitted. But it does not accept local repair — pierce it and the panel usually gets replaced. Drywall is paintable, repairable and gives formal freedom: curves, steps, niches. In return it wants more height and more labour. For a curved or multi-level design, drywall; for a large flat illuminated plane, stretch.

Those are constraints on the design, not decoration. A sprinkler head cannot be covered or recessed beyond a defined depth — it has a heat-response distance, and enclosing it delays activation in a fire, which is a life-safety matter. Vent grilles cannot be covered either and must stay serviceable. We build the design around those points: aligning step lines to the grille axis and keeping sprinklers on the flat plane rather than inside a step. On commercial jobs we verify this against the fire strategy.

The honest answer: in most homes it settles on one colour within weeks. In RGB mode colour accuracy drops and the room stops looking natural. What genuinely earns its place day to day is tunable white: 4000 K neutral in the morning, 2700 K warm in the evening. Products exist that do both on one strip; if the budget is tight, dropping RGB and putting the money into a high-CRI tunable white makes far more difference.

Yes. We agree the scope in writing before starting, send dated progress photographs at each stage, and can hold a video call on site whenever you want to see something specific. Keys are handed over against a written record, and the flat is cleaned and photographed again at handover.

After the survey you receive a written scope listing the rooms and areas covered, the system chosen for each, the brand and product of the boards, profiles and insulation, the surface finish level, and the number of working days. Anything not on that list is not in the price, which is what stops the mid-project additions that make contractor quotes unreliable. Nothing is charged beyond the written scope without your approval.

Ceilings and partitions leave the space usable as soon as the crew finishes. Painting needs longer: the film cures over roughly a week, and the smell in a ventilated flat clears within two to three days. If a flat is being prepared for tenants, plan on a few extra days after handover for airing and cleaning rather than scheduling a viewing for the day of completion.