You Can Make Amazing Coffered Ceilings With Your Own Hands
Coffered ceilings are a great way to add character, pattern, and depth to your ceiling. If you have high ceilings, they can also make your room feel cozier, but the price of customizing them is also high. Luckily, a basic square coffered ceiling pattern isn’t too difficult to make on your own and only requires some basic carpentry skills. You can get the high quality feel of coffered ceilings for a small price if you make them yourself.
How to make a coffered ceiling with your own hands
This is a mid-level project, so you’ll need a miter saw and a nail puller to get the job done yourself. Other tools you will need include a square , level , nail finder , tape measure, and pencil. The materials you will need are 1 x 3″ and 1 x 4″ boards, some 1 x 6″ MDF boards and some baseboard , and 2″ nails and 1-½” nails. To finish and paint the ceiling, you will also need paint sealer and some 180 grit sandpaper .
Start with grid layout
Start by marking out the ceiling beams with a nail finder and pencil, and then draw grid lines using a level or other ruler. For a coffered ceiling, the grid should be based on the spacing between all other studs. So if your floor beams are 16 inches apart, your grid will be 32 x 32 inches; if they are 24 inches apart, your grid will be 48 by 48 inches.
Create your brackets
Once your grid is laid out, you need to construct a parenthesis for each “X” shaped grid intersection.
- For “X” brackets, use a miter saw to cut one 18″ 1″ x 4″ piece for each bracket, two 18″ 1″ x 3″ pieces for each bracket, four 8″ 1″ x 3″ pieces. ”, and two 1” x 4” 8” pieces for each bracket.
- To build the bracket, use 1″ x 4″ pieces for the top and 1″ x 3″ pieces for the sides. Center a 3-½” space between two 1 x 3″ 8″ pieces on an 18″ 1 x 4″ piece and pin them to form a gutter on each side of the space.
- Use two 1 x 4 x 8″ pieces to make a two piece 1 x 3 x 18″ gutter with the same 3-½” gap in the center.
- Then, with the 1″ x 4″ tops, slide the two pieces together to form an “X” shaped brace.
- Then assemble one 8″ bracket for each gap between the “X” brackets, or between the bracket and the “X” and the top 1″ x 4″ for the gaps between the “X” brackets, or between the “X” brackets and the wall. These are just straight chute pieces to support your molded parts.
Attach brackets
Center the “X” staples at each mesh intersection and attach them with longer 2″ nails to the ceiling joists. Then center the 8″ brackets in between the X brackets and nail them to the studs as well. Use your level to make sure everything lines up correctly before moving on to the next step.
Attach your facings
Center the 1″ x 6″ MDF moldings on the brackets and nail them horizontally with 1-½” nails. You will need to custom cut them to fit your specific room, so first measure the overall width and length of the ceiling and then cut the pieces to fit your space.
Once the boards are attached in one direction, measure the space between the MDF boards and cut one piece of MDF molding for each space going in the opposite direction. If you have a seam between pieces of MDF, you can apply some caulk to the seams with your fingertip before moving on. This will slightly increase the drying time.
Attach the sides and finish
Then measure the distance from corner to corner of the inner edge of the squares on your grid. Use this measurement as a guide to cut pieces of skirting board with 45 degree angles at each end, like a picture frame. The longest side of your board, from the tip of one 45 degree corner to the other, should be the same as the inside dimension of your ceiling grid.
While “measure twice and cut once” is generally the best way to do this, measuring twice and then cutting the boards to just a hair’s length can help with this part. Getting the corners to match perfectly can be tricky, so it’s a good idea to cut them off a bit and then trim them to fit.
Once they are all cut and fit snugly together in a square shape, you can nail them to the sides of the brackets with 1-1/2″ nails. And if the angle isn’t perfect, use caulk to hide imperfections. Once this is done, fill any visible nail holes with caulk, let it dry, and sand to prepare it for painting.
A visual image always helps with projects like this, so before you dive into it, check out the helpful videos of parts one and two from Insider Carpentry’s Spencer Lewis .