Since the purpose of a ceiling fan is to move air, blowing air above or directly at obstructions to the flow is counterproductive. You want to move the air down where you are - I actually agree with the previous poster at the 9 foot height, but if that bugs you, no higher than even with the beams - preferably just below....to get the benefit of having a fan in the first place.. terry, with 11-12 foot ceilings, fan at 9

Just move your plate heigth up a foot or so. You could cut through the roof to install a 2x12 beam on top of the plate. This will put the facia higher than the existing facia. Or you could move the beams in & give yourself a bigger overhang on the porch so the facia meets. Dropping the floor a step is always an option as you mentioned. Al

With today’s houses being built from 10’ to 12’. The 8 ‘ ceilings look ridiculous in our opinion. My House in Florida has a 8’ ceiling and we hate it even though the house is nice and in a great area. Ceiling fans are too low. We’re always screaming “watch it” when someone lifts our baby in the air. All the fixtures look too low over the dining room area. Someone really tall comes over you can really see how small the house looks. Even the tall cabinet trend makes putting our appliances under them impossible. Our vitamix and Mixer just hangs out in the middle of nowhere, bcause they don’t fit under the cabinets. I personally think houses should be sold in cubic ft not square feet. It’s really not fair to have yesterday’s news gonin the same category as a new modern house with 12’ ceilings. Of course not till we sell our place. :) We just got a new metal roof and wish we didn’t to Raise our roof first. Probably cost a fortune so we’re probably going to have to live with it. I suppose if you don’t entertain or care about those things then anyone can live in an 8’ ceiling house. Knowing what I do now I look right over those houses now.

My trim is painted white throughout the house....with the exception of my son's room. He decided to do it himself on a whim about a month after moving in. The room was baby blue with a hand painted sky on the ceiling which looked more like an angry galaxy. He couldn't stand it and used the buff color I had used for my living room walls. I was almost crazy watching him paint, he did it in 3 hours and covered everything including the baseboard,coving and ceiling in one color. Results really surprised me, it looks great and made the room feel larger, much more pulled together. Am not sure if I'd do this in any room, but for this one it worked out well. All in the beholder, this sounds like a job you will have to play with. Buy some cheap oops paint or use something you have around and try an area. May be added work, but paint is easily changed and painting, as with interior design, is a personal decision. While at Lowes for plumbing, I mentioned the return of blue/pink/yellow sinks/toilets which were on display. The two guys said "yeah, back to the 60s/70s". My kids (in their late 30s) were commenting on some green dishes bought to use for matching my kitchen paint picked out. They think these greens look exactly like the avacado they grew up with. My explanation that the greens are "herb" tones just brought a bunch of giggling. I love green and will still paint the kitchen an "herb" green. But admission that they have now tainted my seeing the different shades and in the back of my mind is avacado.