Tinker, we have 10 ft ceilings in living, dining and foyer of our house we are trying to sell now. 8 ft with trays in bedrooms and vaulted in study. Kitchen and bathrooms just 8ft. The house we just built also has 10 ft. in same rooms and 9 ft. everywhere else with trays and a vaulted ceiling in study also. (Coffered in dining room). We love 9 so much more than 8. If it helps I saw the website for your house and I love your living room so much I have saved the pictures! I'm hoping one day we can changed our white built-ins for something like yours. Warm and cozy rooms despite the size! I don't think I could live without 10ft. in main rooms after having them so long and 9 would be my limit. Hope this helps.

thank you guys for even reading my wordy post! and for responding with great/helpful ideas ;) i fixed the google sketchup drawings with correct wall height. alx and lzgdns - i'm not married to an accent wall, but dd wanted bright pink walls and all 4 walls = approx 713 sq feet of azalea pink! good info though, that focal wall has to be focal for a reason. i was trying to do a satisfying dose of pink for her, without losing the light reflectivity of the other walls, and trying to make the dingiest north wall/ceiling area look crisp white by contrast. the ivory on upper half of room now looks greyish-ivory "BM faded orphan dress" thank you for the paint color suggestions, especially on dealing with the northerly light (and website) purply-pinks clash with the carpet for sure. the color dd keeps coming back to is behr's springtime bloom - lol - fun job to name paint colors - BM peptobismol SW benydryl tablet pink FPE chalky calamine lotion would you really paint the ceiling pink too? there is no flat ceiling, it's all on a slope. that's exactly why we want the loft for her - cozy book nook, place where she and her friends will want to be as they get a little older - we wanted the area underneath it to have maybe a desk, storage, bookshelves too - something that i really worry about is that since the light is northerly, putting a loft on the far wall would actually pretty much lower the ceiling over both windows. this has to reduce the amount of light that gets reflected into the rest of the room, making it feel even darker. i Love beadboard, but i have been feeling that it's too out of character with the house to look right. my mil has the similar contemporary 1970s style home, and she has spent years gradually colonializing it - colonial wallpapers, paint colors, furniture. the overall effect is ODD. cottagy finishes in a room with an 15'high x 19'long wall -is it possible? crash&suero, you've both gotten me thinking, corner loft! a triangle wastes a lot of floor space, but a square works maybe? instead of across the room - because the shortest part is useless anyway - the one i drew is directly under the skylight, and has lowest ceiling height of around 4'5" like a staircase but that would take up a lot of space/$, for now i think ladder is best option? i also like that it breaks up the enormous expanse of wall. no kidding if i had a ds instead of dd, i'd do a mural of niagara falls, put fake boulders at the bottom, hang some barrels halfway on hte wall for bookshelves, decorate his bed in lifejacket orange and be done ;) Did another sketch! Loft is around 5' by 8'. Wasn't sure what size it should be but this doesn't block window, and is a golden mean ratio ;) added ladder. hope it makes sense visually. Any thoughts? the wall is pink for fun, will try other paint suggestions too ;) pink does not match actual paint choices. thank you so much! (sorry my messages are so long) my paint color name is: SW chatty blur Here is a link that might be useful: new sketch with corner loft

The structural support of typical sloping roof rafters must resist horizontal forces as well as vertical forces in order to prevent the walls from bowing outward at the top causing the roof to collapse. In the current condition the ceiling joists act as horizontal ties to resist the horizontal force. There are only 4 ways to remove the ceiling joists and use the existing roof structure. 1. Remove the ceiling and leave the ceiling joists in place possibly removing 1/2 or 2/3 of them and reinforcing the top plate as needed. I've made the beam brace and reinforced top plate approach work with horizontal members as far apart as 10 ft. but it would be foolish to do that without the assistance of a good structural engineer even if a permit could be obtained without it. 2. Sister the existing rafters with larger members (2x10, 2x12, etc.) and raise the old ceiling joists to about the 1/3 or 1/2 point of the rafters (this approach is spelled out in a footnote to the IRC building code rafter tables). "Collar ties" in the upper 1/3 of the rafters provide little resistance to rafter forces; they are essentially substitutes for metal hangers to secure the rafters to the ridge to resist wind uplift. The connections are critical and often under-designed so they should be designed by a structural engineer. 3. Install a beam under the ridge with posts at the ends that carry the load to the foundation. Then there are no longer any horizontal forces to resist and the ceiling joists can be removed. The beam and its supports are required to be designed by a structural engineer. 4. Remove the ceiling joists and install diagonal braces from the top plates at each rafter heel to the middle of the rafter on the other side of the roof. Apply a new ceiling to the bottom of the new braces. This is a field built scissor truss that cannot and should not be designed by anyone other than a structural engineer. If the members and connections are not adequate the roof could collapse. So, the first step is to accurately draw the existing conditions in plan, elevation and section; then ask some builders what the costs might be; then hire a structural engineer to design it; then bid the project.

We are doing 10' downstairs/upstairs. But upstairs we have areas where the ceiling drops near the walls in some of the rooms, and lowered on the hallway. We will have cathedral ceilings in the master bedroom and daughter's bedroom, and 2 story ceiling in the family room. We are also in the south, and for reasons I don't need to bore you with, we are not doing ceiling fans on the main rooms (where I will mostly be). So the higher ceiling height will be a nice feature for us. Our previous home had 9' ceilings down and 8' up. 9 was ok (for us), but was not excellent. 8 I think is a bit too low. It all depends on how you live, climate, health, neighborhood style, and personal taste. I think that changing the height here and there throughout the home makes it more interesting, and breaks the feeling of commercial environment.