I would have never thought of that, but I REALLY like the look. What style home are you building?

I'd like it even better with real transoms.

I saw one house that put "stained glass" in an arch over each door. It was actually one of the heavy plastics (polypropalene?) with translucent paint and faked lead.

Love the idea..but make sure to measure crown at the ceiling that is above the doors to ensure you have enough space.

Make sure to check the cost of transoms and if they are readily available also. We framed one special door for a transom without having an exact product in mind and ended up having it custom made. It's exactly what I wanted but I couldn't have fit it in the budget for every door.

I like the look, we were actually thinking of doing something similar on one wall where the transition from 6'8" closet doors on one wall and a window on the perpendicular wall at 8' was noticably different. We were going to paint the inset area the wall color though. This was for our son's room, and we have decided to hang a shelf high on that wall so will just trim it out at the interior door height.

That solid "transom" is not uncommon in old houses.It's actually often a solid piece of wood nailed onto the wall, or even just painted wall, framed in around the door. Very economical, and it restores the proportion of the door. The wood used might be painted plywood. I saw a house on a home tour with beautiful wood used that way...the owner ordered kitchen cabinet doors in the wood she wanted and had them trimmed with matching wood. Not suggesting that for you, might be as much $$ as the 8" doors.

i think that would look great, as well as compliment the style of the home (if the execution were kept spare). i like the idea of a windowed transom, but i totally get the money saving thing!

Keep in mind that the faux transom in the picture is in proportion to what appears to be a ten foot ceiling.

I saw one house that put "stained glass" in an arch over each door

The interior designer on a custom house I built specified arches for the 6'8" French doors on the first floor of a home with 10 ft. ceilings. Looked great! But very expensive, as the only windows I could find ready-made were double glazed outside units.

To check out the look, draw it or use a computer programme. Or make a mockup in cardboard and put it over a real door in your current home.

Thanks for all the feedback. We're leaning toward this solid transom idea for the 2d floor. The style of the house is a Hamptons cedar (nichiha) shingle house. So, I think it would work with the style. I totally agree that stained glass or real glass transoms would look even better, but we're trying to save costs! :) Otherwise, we'd just go with the 8 ft. doors. We currently have 8 ft. doors on our 1st floor which has 9 ft. ceilings and really like the look and feel that extra height gives. We're thinking of doing it the way divadeva mentioned where we'd just frame around drywall and paint it all the same color. I'm glad to hear that this is something that isn't uncommon. Anyway, we're working on finalizing plans and details and doing our best to brainstorm ways to cut costs without taking away from the overall quality and feel. As much as we'd like to, we can't go crazy on every aspect of the house. It's tough when you are faced with a million discrete decisions bc we have a desire to pick the most beautiful option in every category. Our challenge is to pick some things that are "just good enough" in some categories so that we can get our dream choice in another. Any other ideas?

Keep in mind concerning transoms any interior wall that is load bearing will not allow transoms due to header requirements. There is a way to header above structurally, but all is dependent on your footprint. You might want to make sure no load bearing walls are in your interior wall layouts but if so, deal with them structurally in the framing stage to allow transoms should you go that route.

well, i've already added a large storage closet and a craft room for the kids with some space i "found" under the eaves. we also went back to the architect and made a slight ($15K) change to our rear 2nd floor balcony so now i'm holding off on a couple of coffered ceilings.
i still laugh to myself whenever i remember dh's face as i told him about the very cute craft room that can "fit right here, see? it's no big deal!"

all those "no big deal"s add up very quickly so, obviously i'm not the one to ask for cost saving advice! good luck gobruno. i can't wait to see your house!