You’ve got a problem.
The ceiling in your bedroom or living room is tall and boring and you are looking to spice things up.
A coffered ceiling is one of the best ways to do that.
But, how much does a coffered ceiling cost?
A coffered ceiling will cost $15,330 or $68.14 per square foot for an average 15 x 15 living room with 10-foot ceilings. Though, a number of factors will affect your final price.
What is a Coffered Ceiling?
A “coffer“ is an indentation in architectural terms.
A coffered ceiling, therefore, is a ceiling with a series of pattern indentations.
The most common residential application of a coffered ceiling is with rectangular coffers, but occasionally hexagons, octagons, or diamonds are used.
It is considered a high-end finish that increases the value of your home.
Third-Party Coffered Ceiling Cost Answers
We get that we may not be the only website that you may consult when answering the “coffered ceiling cost” question.
We took the liberty of summarizing the top results Google had for this query.
| Site | Average Cost | Average Cost per Square Foot |
|---|---|---|
| HomeAdvisor | $3,000 - $4,500 | $20 - $30 |
| Millionacres | $3,750 | $25 |
| Fixr | $2,500 - $14,000 | $17 - $60 |
As you can see, the prices are all over the place.
We will try our best to explain why this is the case and to help you estimate how much your coffered ceiling will cost.
Average Coffered Ceiling Cost
As frustrating as it might sound, the actual answer to “how much does a coffered ceiling cost?” is…it depends.
That said, even with all of the options available and the sizes of the rooms varying wildly, we do have an average cost for this type of job.
There are many factors that affect price, but most coffered ceilings will fall between $10,000 and $20,000, on average.
The average coffered ceiling costs (drumroll please) $15,330.
This average is based on a 15’ x 15‘ living room with 10-foot ceilings and 12” x 12” beams with crown molding and paint.
However, prices will vary greatly depending on design and materials. Here are just a few examples of designs you could choose:
As you can see, these can range from very simple to quite ornate.
Coffered Ceiling Cost per Square Foot
Now, to make the overall average cost into a more usable number for you (unless you happen to be the lucky son-of-a-gun that has a 15′ x 15’ x 10’ living room, in which case, you’re welcome).
To make it usable we need the square footage of the room you would like to install the coffered ceiling in. We will find this by using just a little bit of math.
Don’t worry, if math is not your forte you can easily do this on a calculator.
To get the square footage simply multiply the length of your room by the width of your room. For example: 15’ x 15’ = 225 square feet
You can then use that number to come up with the average per square foot cost by dividing your square footage into the average turnkey coffered ceiling cost of $15,330. For our example, $15,330 / 225 SF=$68.14.
Therefore, you would be looking at $68.14 per square foot on average for a 15 x 15‘ living room with 10-foot ceilings and 12“ x 12“ beams with crown molding and paint.
However, it would be unrealistic to use $68.14 for every project –unless you happen to be getting the exact same design.
The majority of projects will cost $45 – $90 per square foot. To determine how much your design might be, read the next section on the major cost factors involved with coffered ceilings.
Normal Cost Distribution of Coffered Ceilings
We put this chart here to help you visualize what someone might “normally” spend on a coffered ceiling.
Please, keep in mind that these are averages.
If you’ve got a 50-foot by 50-foot ballroom with 30-foot ceilings, you will spend tens of thousands just to get scaffolding set up before any work has been done.
Factors That Affect Your Coffered Ceiling Cost
There are four primary things that affect the final cost of your coffered ceiling. They are:
- Material Choice
- Size
- Extras
- Ceiling Height
Let’s look at each in detail.
1. Material Choice
This is, by no means, an exhaustive list of available materials.
However, these are the most common coffered ceiling material choices.
It consists of plywood, fiberboard, oak, cherry, walnut, PVC, Mahogany, MDF, Poplar, Pine, and Maple.
Painted pine is by far the most popular material choice.
Poplar is the most popular choice for stain-grade material
Largely, this is because they are more cost-conscious than the other materials.
2. Size
What do we mean by size? Three things.
- First, we mean the size of the room or rooms that the coffered ceiling is going in. It makes a big difference if we are talking about a 8‘ x 8‘ bedroom or a 25‘ x 25‘ family room. The larger the room, the more time and materials are required.
- Second, we mean the size of the beams that need to be constructed. You can range anywhere from a low profile ceiling that comes down 3/4 of an inch, all the way up to 12 inches deep.
- Lastly, we need the size of the indentations for your ceiling. For example, using the same 15’ x 15’ living room from above. There are 9 “boxes” to that coffered ceiling that are roughly 5’ x 5’. What if you wanted 3’ x 3’ boxes? It nearly doubles the materials required to make that change.
Just a note. If you aren’t sure (or don’t care) about the exact size of the boxes you want, we’ll default to something close to the 5’ x 5’ boxes.
3. Extras
The next largest category that affects your coffered ceiling cost is the extras (aka upgrades).
Here is a list of the most common upgrades for coffered ceilings along with an approximate price.
We discuss each in a little more detail below.
| Extra | Cost Estimate |
|---|---|
| Tin Tiles | $8 - $19 per square foot |
| Medallion | $100 - $500 a piece |
| Trim & Molding | $10 - $23 per linear foot |
| Paint & Stain | $6.50 per square foot |
| Recessed Lights | $1,200 - $2,000 for 6 can lights |
| Finials | $5 - $100 a piece |
| Uplights | $10 - $20 per square foot |
Tin Tiles
Tin tiles are metallic finish tiles with decorative elements that sit in the recesses of a coffered ceiling.
It costs $8 – $19 per square foot with labor and materials to add tin tiles.
That’s $1,800 – $4,275 for our example 15’ x 15’ living room.
Medallion
Ceiling medallions are a decorative element that goes at the intersection of ceiling beams, in the recesses of the coffer, or around the chandelier (most common).
A single medallion will cost $100 – $500 with labor and materials.
Though, you could easily spend several thousand dollars on one, depending on the type of material, size, and weight.
Trim & Molding
Trim is the most common type of upgrade for coffered ceilings.
So much so, that it would actually be less common for coffered ceilings not to have some.
The 15‘ x 15‘ coffered ceiling we discussed in our example above includes 8 inch MDF crown molding in it already.
We did an in-depth look at crown molding installation cost if you want to know more.
In summary, with labor, materials, and paint it’s $10 – $23 per linear foot of crown molding needed.
Paint & Stain
Normally, a carpenter will install the ceiling and a painter will come behind them to paint or stain the wood.
It can take half a day to a full week, but it is most common to take a single day to paint a coffered ceiling.
Painting can normally be done for around $6.50 per square foot plus paint, depending on the intricacy of the design.
For our 225 square foot living room in our example that comes out to about $1,500.
Recessed Lights
This is one of the most difficult to price out because it depends on running wires through the ceiling.
With easy access, it is not very expensive.
However, if there is finished space (like a bedroom) above, then running the electricity can get pricey.
It can run anywhere from $500 to over $10,000 depending on the specifics of your space.
That said, it usually costs $1,200 – $2,000 to add 6 can lights to your ceiling.
Finials
Image credit: Etsy
A finial is a distinctive ornament usually found on the pinnacle of a roof.
However, they are also commonly used in coffered ceilings at critical junctures like beam intersections.
A single finial is $5 – $100 and on average.
Normally, you will add 1 to 12 on a coffered ceiling, with the most common being four.
Uplights
Uplights –sometimes called trim lights– are concealed lights that illuminate a specific area.
In the case of coffered ceilings, the lights hide inside the trim work.
Instead of pushing the crown molding all the way up, you drop it down 2 or 3 inches to leave space for the lighting to show.
Then, rope lights are placed behind the crown molding and hardwired into a switch on the wall (sometimes, it can be controlled with a remote or an app on your phone).
The end result is arguably the most dramatic and eye-catching upgrade for a coffered ceiling.
As an option, the rope light could also be programmable to have different levels of brightness or even different colors like green, purple, red, etc.
Pricing varies, but $1,000 to $4,000 is the most common range with size and type of light rope being the biggest factor.
That translates to $10 – $20 per square foot of coffered ceiling.
4. Ceiling Height
Our entire conversation, and all the examples we’ve given, have been based on a 10-foot ceiling.
However, we might be talking about a two-story foyer needing a Coffered ceiling.
Those 22-foot ceilings require scaffolding to be set up.
Scaffolding can nearly double the length of time necessary to install the coffered ceiling. It can also add thousands of dollars to the total project cost.
A good rule of thumb is that it will cost $4 – $30 per square foot with ceiling height determining the cost (e.g. the taller it needs to be, the more expensive).
Coffered Ceiling Cost Calculator
Now that you have all of that information, you can use it to calculate the square footage of your room and the scope of your design. Using that information we can get you a loose estimate on how much it could cost to install a coffered ceiling in your space.
Coffered Ceiling Versus
We realize that most people are not familiar with the term “coffered ceiling”, and may have found us through some related search terms.
Let’s talk about those.
Waffle Ceiling Vs. Coffered Ceiling
A waffle ceiling is another, tastier, way of describing a rectangular or square coffered ceiling.
Just like the ridges in a waffle, it has square coffers.
Coffered ceilings also include hexagonal, octagonal, and circular styles.
An easier way to think of it is that “coffered ceiling” is a category and a waffle ceiling is a specific type of ceiling.
It’d be like using “bat” and “Louisville slugger” in a sentence.
Tray Ceiling Vs. Coffered Ceiling
Tray ceilings –sometimes called trey, step, or recessed ceilings– are ceilings where there is more than one horizontal flat ceiling surface at different levels on a ceiling.
It often looks like a large upside-down tray in the ceiling of a room.
They are often a single “step-up” meant for decorative purposes.
Coffered ceilings, however, are a series of ceiling beams with decorative elements between them.
Crawford Ceiling Vs. Coffered Ceiling
A Crawford Ceiling is a misspelling or mispronunciation of a “coffered” ceiling.
It is a common mistake, so, we thought it would be worth addressing.
Vaulted Ceiling Vs. Coffered Ceiling
Here is a definition of a vaulted ceiling from Masterclass.
“A vaulted ceiling refers to any ceiling that angles up toward the roof to extend higher than the standard eight-foot to ten-foot height of average flat ceilings.”
Most often, vaulted ceilings are found in the common spaces of your home like the living room or kitchen.
They specifically refer to having an angled ceiling.
You can add a coffered ceiling to a vaulted ceiling.
Coffered Ceiling FAQs
Do Coffered Ceilings Add Value?
Yes! They increase the value of your home.
The additional design adds a lot of interest to your home, which can also help it sell faster.
Do Coffered Ceilings Make a Room Look Smaller?
To some extent, yes they do.
That can be mitigated by having an appropriate depth to your coffered ceiling.
Low-profile coffered ceilings for 8-foot ceilings and 12-inch beams for 10-foot or taller ceilings.
Conclusion
Coffered ceilings are a great way to add interest, a conversation piece, and value to your home.
They cost between $10,000 and $20,000 on average, but they help convert a house into a home that you can be proud of.
