Embellish Your Beams

Solid oak beams are a feature in themselves, however, in many homes, especially those with big pieces of furniture and other distractions, they don’t always stand out. When you’ve invested in such a quality product, it should be the focus of your room and there are steps you can take to make that happen.

Lights
Whether it’s fairy lights to wrap around them or fixed lights that you wire into them, incorporating light will brighten the room and make sure all eyes are on your beams. Opt for fairy lights to create an ambient atmosphere or spot lights for a bigger impact.

Paint/ stain
In one of our previous blog posts, we went into detail about the importance of treating your oak and how much of an impact it can have on its colour and appearance. Using a dark stain is sure to make your beams stand out and create a lovely contrast to any light decor. The same can be said for paint. If you’re looking for a specific colour you can’t get with a stain, there are various specialist paints available that’ll help them pop.

Bunting
Perhaps a more feminine alternative but it applies to anything that can be draped from the beams. Whether it’s with ribbon or hessian, using some form of bunting to make a decorative feature out of your beams is a surefire way to draw attention to them.

More oak
By incorporating oak into your room in other ways, whether it be with a dining table or some floating shelves, you’re creating a whole scheme of colours and textures that tie together. Bright colour schemes that are focused around your soft furnishings are likely to overpower any space, but if you make your beams and the colour of the wood part of that scheme, you’ll avoid detracting attention from them.

Manage your proportions
Buying taller furniture and hanging floor length curtains are just a couple of the ways you can make the height of the room a focal point. With your beams across the ceiling, you’ll make the most of them at the same time.

For more advice on styling, see our blog posts on decorating your fireplace and creating impressive displays with our rustic oak shelves.

You can also find out more about our structural oak beams and how you can incorporate them into your home here.