Thanks SOOO much for all the feedback, and I'm sorry that I hadn't come back to this post till now. You all raised really helpful issues for me to consider, but I have to say that I still haven't firmly decided what to do. I'm probably at 75 percent in terms of keeping the fixture - it just feels like it goes with the room. I think I'm satisfied that most of the concerns are manageable. For example, I've tested and it doesn't block the TV, and we have had a coffee table directly below the junction box in every configuration of the room since we moved here a decade ago, so I think it's reasonable bet that this will stay under any future layout. In terms of the kids, I have 2 boys who are the types who are constantly bouncing off the walls, so it's not inconceivable that they might hang off the ceiling - but they are old enough to know better and tall enough that if they were going to do this, they probably already would have! They have a Wii and don't seem to jump a lot, and if that begins to happen I would probably move the Wii to our (tiny) playroom instead. My real remaining uncertainty is just whether it looks goofy, like lipstick on a pig. I don't think so, but I'm obviously biased. And I don't really trust my own judgment after a couple of botched decisions on this sort lately (our kitchen reno should have been done except that I picked a totally nutty contractor, who thankfully walked away.) SO I'm going to stew about it a bit longer, see if I can find a semi-flush fixture that I like (at least one that isn't $500 and up, which seems to be the case for all the ones like), and give it a week or two of more consideration. Thanks so much for all your really helpful comments!!

Before purchasing any furniture, figure out the rooms needed uses & best furniture placement to get most function. Make a list of measured use areas, then get items. Get extra decor after placement configured. Floorplan Placement Ideas. Option 1

I think you really need to look at the costs associated with moving walls and the kitchen and bath to get an office and curved stairs. The easiest and cheapest solution is to put your office in either bedroom and leave the floor plan the same. Take the money and time you save to update the kitchen and bath fixtures if needed but You still have not shown us what you are starting with except the stairs. Please post pictures of your current space! I think this is a waste of time and money unless you've found that money tree I've heard of. Good luck though. We really DO need more info from you to give you better solutions.

I loved our house with 9 ft ceilings; my present house has 8 ft on the ground floor and 9 ft on the second (where we added a full dormer and I insisted they do 9 ft ceilings). Our house in LA had a 12 ft ceiling in the enormous LR - it was 18 x 40. I agree that it's a matter of proportion. While I would prefer 9 ft ceilings on my first floor, the room sizes of all the rooms are good (DR is too small for my very wide table - ceiling height wouldn't make a difference). Due to no "open concept" my well-sized rooms make the house "live well" so that extra foot of ceiling is probably more noticed by me (a designer) than most people. The fad for these very tall ceilings has come from the open concept movement which involves rooms that look big on paper, but are in fact, rather small due to the lack of walls and floating furniture for traffic patterns. So the builders just made the ceilings higher - far less expensive than adding square footage to the house. And everyone thought he was getting something very grand and very special.