You’ve probably heard of accent walls and accent pieces, but have you considered accent ceilings? Often ignored, ceilings are areas in homes that are usually left plain and undecorated despite the significant space they occupy. More focus is generally placed on walls, floors, and other parts of your home. However, viewing the expansive overhead space as a blank canvas can be advantageous for your home. Transforming your ceiling into an accent ceiling can create room separation in open floor plan homes. Additionally, certain ceiling designs can enhance any room, making a space appear larger by creating the illusion of a higher ceiling.
How do you begin the process of revitalizing a dull ceiling? Typically used to soften hard floors or add a splash of design and color to a room, rag runner rugs, also known as chindi rugs, can serve more than just flooring purposes. Composed of colorful fabric scraps sewn and woven together, once deconstructed, the plethora of fabric can be repurposed into a unique and vibrant ceiling tent or canopy, simplifying the process of adding texture and color to the overhead space. There are various top ceiling design trends we’ve observed in 2025, but this design is certain to enhance the overall look of your space.
How to repurpose rag runner rugs to transform your ceiling
From home goods stores to discount shops, rag runner rugs, like the Handwoven Multicolor Chindi Rug from Five Below, are readily available. They come in various sizes and are typically crafted from numerous vibrant fabric scraps. The larger the rug, the more abundant the fabric pieces, so ensure you purchase one or multiple rugs to accommodate the size of your ceiling tent. Once you have your rag runner, use a pair of scissors to start deconstructing it. This can be done by cutting through the sewn seams that hold the rug together and gently pulling the fabric out piece by piece. This will result in a large assortment of fabric scraps that will ultimately transform into a lively ceiling design.
After gathering your fabric, you can begin assembling your ceiling tent. You’ll need some yarn or twine and a method to secure your fabric to the ceiling. A heavy-duty staple gun, like the Bostitch Construction Staple Gun, should suffice. Gather individual strips of fabric in varying color combinations of your choice, then tie them together at the ends to make it easier to affix to your ceiling and nearby walls. Continue gathering and combining the strips of fabric until you have enough material for your ceiling accent piece. To create your ceiling tent, staple one end of your combined fabric to a nearby wall. Achieve a draping, canopy effect by allowing the fabric to hang loosely in the middle before securing the other end to a central point on your ceiling. Repeat the process with your remaining fabric to cover your entire ceiling or just a section of it. The choice is yours!
