In that room, where we were seated for two visits, a skylight has been carved into the ceiling, providing a welcome feeling of summer.
Clerk of the Privy Council, the forthright diarist Charles Greville, complained that Soane's big columns took up valuable floor space, while his showy ceiling provided bad acoustics.
Canopies with curves hang from the ceiling, providing scale and a greater sense of intimacy in what could otherwise have a cavernous feel.
A chartreuse slipper chair draped with a burnt-orange chenille throw and the lemon yellow bamboo-print wallpaper on the ceiling provided low-key splashes of color.
Looking at it from street level, the elaborate ceiling provides an elegant backdrop to the bluebloods in blue blazers reading newspapers in the seats by the windows.
The intimate, oak-panelled bar, with its brass draught pumps, and ships' lanterns suspended from the ceiling, provides the atmosphere, while the river Fowey outside supplies the wow factor.
A blue neon light sculpture by another friend, Clare Brew, is mounted in what would otherwise be a dark corner of the ceiling, providing light there without taking up floor space.
These panels are rigid and run from the seat-backs to the ceiling, providing an impediment to opening the roof.
However, that's a small negative compared to the much higher ceiling provided by the internet circa 2014.
The upper part of the ceiling provided Michelangelo an irregular surface due to cracks and water seepage.
