Yucky drop ceiling in commercial building.

[moderndiyer]

This is total Diy but not for my house. I haven't begun to tackle much in the new house except removing dark blue wallpaper from the "cave bathroom". Those walls are coming down but I just.can't.stand.it!

Okay I'm remodeling a salon in a strip plaza. It's your basic commercial building with an ugly grid ceiling and white acoustic tiles. My plan was to remove the tiles, leaving the grid-paint anything and everthing above the grid (orange maybe) and uplight the area between the grid and the ceiling. Then place corrugated plastic where the acoustic tiles were. That way the ceiling would be somewhat luminous with color but the corrugated plastic would be hazy enough to hide the other stuff...like phone lines and insulation tubes ..that kinda thing. I'll have funky can lights or lights , or spot type lights otherwise for lighting.

I thought about removing the ceiling all together but that would involve much more detailed work in the space above and I don't necessarily want it to be a warehouse feel.

My first thought was to buy the purplish colored sunshade panels but because they're colored they're totally expensive.

The salon had a mishmosh (my mothers word) of different styles. I of course ..want it to be modern-zenish..maybe a little industrial and still feel just as comfortable as the day my clients started coming in 15 years ago.

If anyone has any other suggestions for an ugly drop ceiling I would LOVE to hear them. I've been procrastinating for months. Plus selling and buying a house but still...I need a good kick in the butt and some fresh ideas to get me going.

Thanks!
De Anna

[matthew]

I think painting everything up there orange and then using corrugated plastic in place of the tiles is a great idea. It reminds me of a <a href="http://www.delaguarda.com/frontend/main2.html">show</a> I saw that started with butchers paper above the audience and then that was lit from above. They dripped water and pigment and little toys that created silhouettes on the paper that were beautiful...

The idea of the seen/unseen or concealed/revealed is a rich one. Go with it. Could you give peeks are what is above the ceiling in places? Force people to wonder and then give them just a glimpse of what is up there? What if the stuff above the ceiling was all in blues, for example, and you could see through to a painting of an underwater scene in one place?

[PixelPixie]

Why not paint all the guts up there and remove the grid entirely since it has lost its use? Does the lease forbid it? Or paint the grid the same color to create total unification? Or just shift it a degree in saturation for subtle contrast.

Or use the grid to feature semi-transparent gels and tissues like dress patterns or handmade papers? Placed sparingly this would make a nice rhythm or maze through your space that could actually also serve as a subconscious wayfinding device (back toward the wash sinks and restrooms or whatever)

Or another word: fabric.

I know a guy who could help you develop these ideas further.

[moderndiyer]

Great ideas! Leaving the grid and strategically placing tiles/panels/fabric in the grid would totally help separate different areas of the salon.
Or- the ceiling above could be one solid color and the grid could just be airbrushed different shades of that color-although I don't think the grid alone..painted, is strong enough to create a path. I never thought about the ceiling actually functioning as a 'path' through different areas and now it really has me thinking!

PixelPixie- My concern with fabric, transparent gels or paper is that it might sag in the grid. I have 2x4 rectangles. I looked into aluminum thinking it could be fabricated with any type of pattern cut out to allow light to pass. SO expensive- and probably too heavy.

Matthew- when I thought of corrugated panels replacing the acoustic tiles I always saw it totally covered and maybe just the possibility shadows from all the junk above. The idea of leaving some of the panels out in different areas would save me $$ also.

I've talked about this ceiling for 8 months - discussing it with my clients and even posting on dwell forums but I ended up with blank stares and no replies.

Thanks so much for taking the time to think about this and posting. I really do appreciate your thoughts and most of all - time.
Just the ideas made me think about it in a completely different way.

I'll take photos of before and after and post them when I'm all done!
Thanks again.

[Funktional Design]

Also, you can totally paint those regular panels. You could paint the regular panels a color of your choice and place them randomly throughout the space, and put your semi-transparent panels in the rest. Put like 30%-40% ceiling tiles in, and the rest in the corrugated panels. This way you at least save SOME of the sound dampening that the ceiling tiles provide, but still get the effect you are going for with the panels. I love the idea of the corrugated panels.
Also… instead of using corrugated roofing, you could use the semi-transparent drop lighting covers that are used for florescent lights. I believe they are the exact same size as your ceiling tiles, so they would drop right in. They come in a few different textures. I’m not sure they are transparent enough for what you are shooting for though.

Great idea!

-Trent