White is about as neutral and plain a color as you can find. Under certain circumstances, it can mean “purity” and “cleanliness,” but when it comes to home décor it cal also mean “uninspired.” So if you’re renovating or just repainting your house, why stop with the walls and floor? There are hundreds of tin ceiling tile colors and finishes out there that can add elegance to any home.

Although metal ceiling tiles are often called “tin,” they were usually tin-coated steel even back a hundred years ago when they first became popular. The tin coating was there to keep the tiles from rusting, and although that basic practice remains with us today, the variety of coatings and finishes you can add to steel ceiling tiles has grown to a truly staggering number. Basic metal coatings include:

• Gold
• Silver
• Bronze
• Copper
• Tin
• Stainless Steel
• Nickel

Here are common tin ceiling tile colors available:

• White
• Brown
• Black
• Red
• Burgundy

And if you’re willing to shop around, you’ll likely discover that the entire rainbow is at your disposal.

You hardly need to stop with solid colors, either. Thanks to the texture of metal tiles, manufacturers can apply an interesting set of contrasting colors to each individual tile. If you like the green shade of copper patina, you can order tin ceiling tiles which are completely copper-green or else ones which only appear half corroded. These allow you to enjoy the brownish-gold of copper on top of the green, and they give your room the elegance of an aging antique.

Then again, you could also reclaim the purity of white by applying it to an otherwise gold, silver, or bronze tile. By adding a bit of teal to a white tile, you can mimic the appearance of the sky above.

With the right finishes, your tin ceiling tiles can be so shiny they reflect the room below them, or else they can be so dull that they perfectly mimic a molded plaster ceiling. With elegant Victorian and Edwardian designs coated in what appear to be aging metals, your ceiling can match whatever bygone era you want to recreate with your home décor. Or if you prefer to look forward, you can use tiles with simple geometric patterns and single color glosses which complement whatever color scheme you are applying to the rest of your room. When it comes to customizing metal ceiling tiles, the sky’s the limit.