Why are exposed beam ceilings so popular?

[quote]She took styrofoam, cut it into strips, painted them brown, and glued them to the ceiling.

LOL

Sounds like a Trading Spaces redo.

Your sister in law sounds like a real prize. What next shiplap wallpaper?

[quote] She took styrofoam, cut it into strips, painted them brown, and glued them to the ceiling

Was she inspired by an Ed Wood movie set?

Bad feng shue

Lmfao

Because it takes all kinds.

Because HGTV declared them to be so. Remember granite? People refused to even look at a house without granite countertops. Now it is never mentioned. It's all about quartz.

R8 the Millennials are like that: very susceptible to trends.

[quote]Because HGTV declared them to be so.

Exposed ceilings were in a lot of 1920s and 1930s-era California homes, you'd see them in old Photoplay layouts of some B-list star's new house. The house in "Entourage" had them, for example, so did Bela Lugosi's old home. They're not a new thing that HGTV decided to make hip and popular.

I would never dream of exposing my beam. I was raised with class.

> She took styrofoam, cut it into strips, painted them brown, and glued them to the ceiling.

I'd never let my sister do this, do you hate her or something?

When I read OPs description I couldn't help but picture pieces of Styrofoam falling into dinner guests hair or into their wine glasses.

Exposed beams, or anything that breaks up a ceiling in a large room, help to negate the underground parking lot feeling. They tend to be used in open space type construction because the standard 8' ceiling seems really low in all of that open space. My problem is that they are usually not appropriate. If one has exposed beams, the architecture had better be Tudor, Arts & Crafts, Colonial Rustic (not formal), etc. Exposed beams in a modern tract house is just stupid.

You guys laugh, but styrofoam beam kits have been around forever

You see these (painted) in pre-war apartments on the UES of Manhattan and I think they look like shit.

If the East Room of the WH doesn't need them for construction stability why do these places?

R10 nobody stated they didn't exist in the past. Obviously they did. HGTV did their usual thing where they shove it in everyone's face in a way people think it's the latest thing so they simply MUST have it. Get it? If not, I can't help you.

[quote] You see these (painted) in pre-war apartments on the UES of Manhattan and I think they look like shit.

Agreed.

R9 as if mass amounts of millennials are buying enough houses to dictate the trends 🤣 My partner built homes and most of the costumers were mid 40s on up, wanting to incorporate all the current trends (barn wood, barn styled slide doors, beams, granite, etc.) Unfortunately, falling for these trends is spread across all ages and incomes. The only differences were the quality of material -- faux wood vs real, but they all had the same desired look they wanted.

Très chic, OP!

I think they look good in Tudor houses or thatched roof homes in England. Maybe the early 10s/20s/30s architecture of Los Angeles. They don't look good on a lot of things.

R18 in places like that it was a type of marketing decision. Instead of flat ceilings, the dead space in between the metal beams was utilized to "increase" the ceiling height of the rooms without expensive modifications to the plans or added cost of materials. Builders and real estate agents could brag about a building having "high ceilings" which pre WWII was a desired feature for buyers.

Of course, using the dead space in between beams reduced sound proofing between floors, but that wasn't considered important.