Why can't a coffered design be created which "floats" between the fireplace wall, the window wall, the opening to dining/kitchen and a point aligned with the end of the fireplace wall which aligns with the first riser of the stairs?

More of a design concern is that coffers are typically recessed up above the ceiling plane. If your standard ceilings everywhere are 10' above finish floor, can you create recessed coffers in the ceiling above 10 feet in the great room area?

There is no alignment of the opening into the kitchen/dining with the fireplace wall, opposite and the open corridor space by the front windows, so the coffer design will have to align with one of the walls or opening and ignore the others. "Floating" the coffers away from the all and opening will help.

Good luck with your project!

"Why can't a coffered design be created which "floats" between the fireplace wall, the window wall, the opening to dining/kitchen and a point aligned with the end of the fireplace wall which aligns with the first riser of the stairs?"

Honestly Virgil, I think you lost me on that one. :)

"More of a design concern is that coffers are typically recessed up above the ceiling plane. If your standard ceilings everywhere are 10' above finish floor, can you create recessed coffers in the ceiling above 10 feet in the great room area?"

I believe so. I will ask to be sure.

"There is no alignment of the opening into the kitchen/dining with the fireplace wall, opposite and the open corridor space by the front windows, so the coffer design will have to align with one of the walls or opening and ignore the others. "Floating" the coffers away from the all and opening will help."

that's what I'm concerned with. How will it look? Won't it look strange?

I've never seen recessed coffers. All of the ones I've seen are added to the ceiling plane. To me, a recessed ceiling is a tray ceiling.

I've never seen coffers added to the ceiling plane. I've only seen recessed coffers. I think Virgil is saying, define the living area as a box and have the box recess into the ceiling and add your coffers. Vs having them span into the walkway. This keeps them centered.

Here's a photo of what I would consider to be coffers.

They can be constructed in one of two ways: 1) Having the bottom of the coffers at the same elevation above the floor as ceilings elsewhere by recessing the coffers into the joist space (this may take specially designed framing if there's occupied floor above), or; 2) Having the top of the coffers at the same elevation above the floor as ceilings elsewhere (simpler to construct if there's an occupied floor above, but may look odd in large open spaces where the ceiling is at a constant height and one sees the coffer framing and trim dropped below the ceiling elevation. Hope this is clear!

In this photo the coffers don not "float" in the center of the room; they run into the wall planes with the resultant odd look on the fireplace wall.

So if I have it recessed into the ceiling plane and do it as a box, you think it might work? I do have a second story above though.

Virgil, is this what you mean by floating, where the coffers do not meet the walls but constructed like a box?

Yes, but the problem with the method pictured is that it's visually (and painfully) obvious that the coffers themselves are simply built on and dropped from the common ceiling plane. The result are boxes rather than (recessed) coffers. The architectural definition of a coffer is a sunken (recessed) panel in a ceiling (including the interiors of domes and vaults). In the case in the photo the final result would have been much better had they dropped the ceiling surrounding the coffers to flush out with the bottom of the coffer trim. For example if one is building 10' ceilings, then the coffered ceiling would be at 10' and the ceiling outside the coffers would be at approximately 9' or whatever depth used for the coffers, making the coffer visually appear to be recessed.

So this is basically what you're saying to do? I still think it not lining up will be obvious? Maybe if I were to run it on the diagonal?

Yes, this is what I was suggesting but if it was my project I'd omit the row of coffers closest to the east windows.

Something like this? And honestly do you think it will look right?

Yes, this is the area where I would have coffers, assuming that you do want them. As I said above, I'd have the top of the coffer at approx. 10' and the "floating" ceiling around the perimeter at approx. 9' or the bottom of the coffer trim, so that the coffers appear to be truly recessed above the ceiling plane. I don't have a sense of the scale of the room volume from this drawing, so I'm not sure that the number and size of the coffers shown above is the optimum design. The number of coffers shown looks a little busy to me. My sense is that coffers in the 3'-4' wide X 3'-4' long might be a good size. They don't have to be square, but many of the designs are. You'll just have to play with the design to find the best visual fit in your estimation. If the finished work looks similar to the photo above with the fireplace I think they will be a handsome addition to your home. What do you think?

Virgil here is a drawing I did of

what I'm thinking of for the fireplace wall and for the entrance into the kitchen/dining room. All the woodwork except for the fireplace wall and the island in the kitchen will be painted wood. the fireplace wall and the island will be from cherry wood.

I'm not sure if I will or will not do crown molding.

I agree what I drew is probably too many and too busy, but like you said, I'll have to play with it.

One other thought was to reproduce the look inside the glass doors of the cabinets. I'm using that look throughout the house on all doors and windows.

I like the fireplace wall design. The verticals in the wall suggest an alignment for the coffers in the ceiling above, which mimics the design of the cabinet doors. I think that would be very handsome. If you don't mind a critique of the opening to the kitchen/dining area, I wonder about the tapered columns. Are they common elsewhere throughout the house interiors? Given the vertical nature of the fireplace wall I just wonder if the columns might look more logical as vertical columns similar to the fireplace wall. Just a thought (which you didn't ask for). From the looks of these drawings yours is going to be a lovely home. Congratulations!

thanks Virgil. Interesting thought about the columns on the other side. the only other place I have the tapered columns is on the front porch. I'm going to play with creating a vertical column, and thank you for the compliment.

I would love your opinion on my thread about my roof line.

Completely agree, Stephanie_sara, this is exactly what I was going to suggest!

Love that picture, Stephanie_sara.

I would be tempted to fiddle with the opening between the kitchen/dining and great room areas so that it relates in some fashion to the fireplace wall.

Also, might it be nice to have a cased opening between the great room and foyer?

This is an instance where I think I would want to work up the great room in Sketchup so that you can rotate and visualize how everything relates in space from various angles.

Stephanie_Sara, funny you should show that because after I decided I probably wouldn't like a coffered ceiling, I suggested just the ceiling you're showing to my builder. Not sure yet if I'm going to like it, but it's something I'm considering. thank you!

Oaktown, the relationship between the two is with the built in cabinets. Both will be the same style which is also the style of my glass cabinets in my kitchen. the only difference is that in my kitchen the cabinets will be full overlay doors, and in the cabinets in the living room they will be inset doors so they look more like they might have looked back in 1920.

I like the idea of a cased opening between the foyer/great room. Excellent suggestion. I'll have to play with it.

I think it's a great idea to work it up in sketchup. Now all I need to do is buy myself a new computer first because my computer is to old to work with sketchup. it's on my todo list for the near future. :)

Fantastic!

Hi cpartist, I had intended "relate" to mean spatially rather than in details. The great room has no clear N/S or E/W axes. That might not matter to you. If you chose, you could add them, for example, by centering the sliding doors out to the pool, creating a "hallway" effect across the bottom of the great room, etc. Of course you could still repeat the same thoughtful details -- the fireplace will be amazing!

I really do think Sketchup (or similar viewing tool) can help you figure out how to best resolve the beams -- or coffers, or other ceiling details -- where they meet the walls. I guess what I am saying is while you're still on paper, it's easier to consider whether slight layout tweaks might be worth it to produce or enhance a certain effect. Good luck!

I agree with you completely Oaktown. On my todo list is to get a new computer and when I do, I'll be downloading sketchup so I can do just that. Now that I've resolved the outside look of the house, I can start working on the interior.

I was intending to create a "hallway" effect along the east window wall of the great room with the area rugs and furniture placement. It may turn out that the ceiling will look better with "nothing" other than a paint color so the focus stays on the fireplace wall and the divider into the kitchen area. Like you said, I need to mock it all up in sketchup.