Deedles- Please post a picture of your space...and your cool vintage stove! Everyone will love it :)

As for the ceiling, I can understand you not wanting to paint it. Honey pine sounds wonderful, not too dark, not too light, but it will feel warm and cozy.

Is this your first time to the forum? If so, welcome to smaller homes!

Thanks Lav, I've posted a couple times here but mostly over in kitchens and baths. The pic I have of the space is the 1975 shag/nasty dropped ceiling with the tiny bedroom and bath on one end. It isn't really representative of what it will be when opened up to the 15x19. All I can visualize when I'm in there is tearing that crap out, lol.

Here is my stove though:

What about the picture, showing the fireplace? That's a great picture. Are you still thinking about opening up the space (by the fireplace) so you can see more of the kitchen?

Oh, and don't forget pictures of the porch and that lovely view! :)

OH WOW your stove is fantastic.

We have 9 foot vault on one side or down the center. We have a double wide. There is nothing on the ceilings but sheet rock.

We had a light pine ceiling in two houses. I did not like it but the I am visually challenged and anything dark, even light pine is too dark for me, blinds me. One of the houses had an 11 1/2 foot vault in it and the other was a regular flat 8 foot ceiling. BUT then I am not a fan of wood and would have it all painted white or covered with glass so do not go by what I say I am weird that way.

Shades- LOL!

It is a beautiful stove! I think I'd like wood beams with a cream ceiling, mainly for contrast...but many people prefer all wood. I guess the cream/wood combo looks more 'fairy tale' to me :) {{gwi:1426158}}From Snow White album
{{gwi:2068832}}From Snow White album

All wood... {{gwi:2068834}}From Snow White album

I like this one, too. The soft gold is warmer than the white, but bounces more light around, than the wood. Maybe another option? {{gwi:2068836}}From Snow White album

And a fancier option, in case the vault is possible. {{gwi:2068838}}From Snow White album

Deedles- Thank you for posting this thread and the one on the other forum. It's really got me thinking about adding some beams, in our kitchen/keeping room. It's a great look, but I hadn't thought much about it lately. Thanks, again :)

Did you say you had 9' ceilings, too?

No, I think they're just standard 8' ceilings, but it's an old farmhouse. That's another reason I'll probably use a lighter ceiling and 'not too big' beams.

I like this style...very english cottage :) {{gwi:2068840}}From Snow White album

but with a lighter wood, so less contrast and hopefully better for the 8' ceiling... {{gwi:2068842}}From Snow White album

And, I also found a better picture of the all wood look, too! Is this more what you were thinking about, for your house? {{gwi:2068844}}From Snow White album

I'll have to find the picture of Tony Shaloub's house.

Especially in a kitchen, I'd be sealing the wood because all that cooking vapor etches the wood, puts grease into it. And that will gradually make it darker and darker.

Like Shades, I am a light lover. I like lots of natural light coming into my house. (Frosted? no, not the right word.) (Antiqued? no....) Whitewashed?....hmmmm.

I love your gas stove, and I think the room will be delightful with a 9 foot ceiling. When we put the loft into my Teahouse, it had these exposed big beams holding it up, with one post in the middle of a 25 foot span. I like the solidity of the space now. However, to point up the beams, it would be good to have them contrast to the wood beneath them. At least a little bit.

THE WORD IS PICKLED!!! PICKLED WOOD. And I love the way it looks. Still wood, but not hidden. Then sealed.

I created an album of 12 photos private because they were not my pics, and I can upload a few here. If you want to see all of them, let me know and I'll send you a "friend" link to it.

This is Tony Shaloub;s dining room look:

These beams are further apart, which keeps it from lowering the ceiling height so much.

Open rafter not beams I suppose. I think this was Lavender's vision too.

Very rustic, a Florida cracker style porch ceiling, I think it was one of Sandy's pictures.

And here we go with natural beams and infill of plaster painted white.

Really old old kitchen space with log beams. See, I think after a long time the place gets dark so they end up painting at least part of it.

Here is one I think the DH might like. It has heavy natural beams, some cross beams natural but the infill is white.
Note they are further apart and contribute to a feeling of higher head room.

All painted, very sophisticated, nothing left natural.

A peaked up ceiling with open beams across the open space, stained dark probably to counteract all that white kitchen look, the floors are also dark wood. If you are gonna have wood ceiling, floors, beams, etc, you will have a wood cave. So paint something.

Here it is reversed. They painted the beams, left the wood natural. This is a nice compromise. Also, the beams are far enough apart to leave the feeling of higher ceilings.

And that's all I found in my files. Hope it wasn't too much.

The last one is really close to what we're thinking of. I'm adding it to my picture list.

That curved beam over the stove is really beautiful. The second picture is very nice. Looks very farmhouse!

ML- I really like the 'sophisticated' one, with the dining room chairs, very similar to mine! :)

I think that would look great, with maple color wood beams? Similar to the floor color in the second picture, with the green corner cabinet. What do you think?

I did a very inexpensive ceiling in our sunroom the ceilings are 9' but the rest of the home are almost 10 so we cut thin beams to make them less imposing and less out of scale with the rest of the home's higher ceilings. This was a 50 dollar project and it is stained dark but you can see how the thinner beams might be an option if you do not wish to lose a ft of height.

I've got a different kind of house than most here, but I do have a natural wood ceiling. It peaks at 10' in the center, down to 8' at the walls. I think the secret is lots of light (which I have) or lots of white to go with it (as in a lot of the images above).

What wonderful pictures! I'm getting all kinds of ideas :)

Now, I'm trying to decide if I want to do any beams in the other rooms? Hmm....

hehehehe, Lav, you are always open to ideas.

And the curved beam over the range, I think it is like a mantle above a fireplace. In the olden days (I mean back in the middle ages), the HEARTH was the cooking spot in the house. So a big beam like they used to hang pots on was really a part of the food prep area. I like that feature too.
However, it would not work in my house.

The other picture you liked for your house, the painted beams and the natural wood ceiling infill, it seems to me that it would work with the metal I-beams painted to sort of disappear also. I was wondering if the painted beams might be metal. For strength, you can have the metal, and then cover it--box it in, actually--with wood boards, and either paint or stain them, always sealing against the grime present after extended time.

Jakabedy, I love the middle of your house. It is like an atrium with the skylights and no real OPEN AIR space, but mercy, it sort of reminds me of a house I wanted to build, my own design. When you have a lot of wood, then you can get the light with white infill spaces. Especially ceilings and cabinets, and up lighting where possible.

It's been so gray and imposing this last week, that I'd be terribly depressed if it were not for white ceilings and lamps and windows. And open shutters. No tornados here, but it sure looks bad. Stay safe, all.

WOW Jakabedy. Gorgeous house!!! I could live with that wood ceiling with all those fantastic windows.