Although I have posted about the ceiling medallions in our foyer and living room, I don’t think I have ever mentioned why they were historically popular. Beyond aesthetic beauty and a display of wealth, they served a functional role. In a time when light fixtures and chandeliers would have been lit by candles, oil, or gas, a soot ring would accumulate on the ceiling. The medallion provided texture. The shadows would break up the soot staining, thereby hiding what would have been an unsightly blemish on an otherwise ornately attractive room.
Function is also one of the reasons I love them. I’m not trying to hide soot (thankfully), but I am trying to hide the fact that very few of our ceiling fixtures are centered correctly. I’m not sure if they were eyeballing it, had a faulty tape measure, or if there were other issues, but the living room, dining room and our bedroom are all several inches off. Adding medallions has allowed me to poke horrifically ugly holes in our plaster ceilings, install wiring pans where they should be, and leave it better looking than when I began. Win, win, win.