How to Cover Ugly Pipes in the Ceiling

Cover your pipes with faux wood beams that fit right over your pipes without the need for tools or hardware. You can purchase faux wood beams at any home improvement store and choose from light or dark wood and a smooth or textured finish.

Decorate your pipes with bold, vibrant colors by wrapping strips of fabric, "candy cane" style, around your pipes and securing them with invisible tape or glue. To disguise valves, hang tassels on them or place a few short-stemmed artificial flowers in the rungs.

Hide your entire ceiling with fabric to match your decor. Measure your ceiling, then purchase fabric pieces to staple from one end of the ceiling to the other, making sure the fabric isn't too heavy. If you choose a fabric that is too bulky, it might fall down, despite reinforcing it with your stapler or staple gun.

Paint your pipes with heat or fireproof paint to match your decor. If you're unable to hide the pipes in other ways, painting them will make them look less obvious. The subtler the paint the better effect you'll get. When painting, open basement windows or use fans to help dissipate the odor.

Hire a professional carpenter who can built pipe boxes or frames around the basement pipes to completely hide them. Get a few estimates before hiring a contractor and ask him if he's ever done "pipe hiding" work.