You have engineered trusses, not rafters. Not practical to change.

Coffered ceilings are a very dated look.

You have the wrong kind of trusses which will not allow a coffered ceiling unless you remove and replace all trusses with a different type of truss.

A is right: coffered ceilings are dated.

Sometimes dated is as dated does. :-) I'd give my eye teeth for this place.

https://photos.zillowstatic.com/cc_ft_1536/ISn6j5h3bfl4ez0000000000.webp

Whole house here:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7989-Algonquin-St-Mackinac-Island-MI-49757/194678679_zpid/

For those who know The Island - this is one of the West Bluff "Cottages." They don't come on the market very often. This one has belonged to one family for 75 years.

IMO, a coffered ceiling is an elegant treatment in a traditional style southern home (thankfully, I can't speak to what's passe in California or the pacific NW.) It is a visually "heavy" treatment which needs to be considered in the design phase so that it is properly proportioned for the space. It needs a higher ceiling than adjacent spaces or you'll feel the need to duck when walking into the room. If we have a 9 ft ceiling height, we typically design a 10 ft height for the coffered area so the coffers finish out at or above a 9 ft height.

Your trusses don't preclude installation of a coffered ceiling at this point, but the wall height certainly does.

The only way to create a coffered ceiling using the existing roof trusses is with furring for a lower ceiling with the top of the cofffer along the bottom chord of the existing trusses.

In other words, you would have to drop the ceiling by the amount of the desired depth of the coffer.

Probably not a good idea.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7989-Algonquin-St-Mackinac-Island-MI-49757/194678679_zpid/

We were just there observing AMAZON delivery by horse and cart, followed by another cart from costco.com

I drove past that house a few years ago, in a horse drawn carriage. It is about two hours from my northern office. Hope you had a great time and did not overdose on fudge. (back to the discussion) Great island with good historic architecture and coffered ceilings, if you can get inside some of the houses.

One thing I realized when driving a carriage is you get an amazing view of the horse's pitot.

Are you asking about a coffered or tray ceiling? It's possible to install either type under the existing framing depending on constraints like the depth of the drop, finished height of windows, and whether the space is bounded by a wall. My ceilings are 9ft, I installed an 8" depth informal style, coffered ceiling in my breakfast room, it created a visual break between that room and the kitchen.

Sorry Steve Grimes but based on the windows, the OP has no room to install a coffered ceiling or even a trey ceiling

Thank you everyone for your input! Much appreciated!!! Sounds like we will be stuck with flat ceilings which is fine. It’s a good sized room. Almost 18.5x19.5.

Holly...I couldn’t open the first link. The second one...oh my. I’ve seen this house and the other cottages. They are dreamy. Can’t imagine being the wealthy original owners of this home and coming here in the summer to escape the heat..., lol.

Ive been here twice. Once with dh and our girls when they were young. They didn’t appreciate the place., bored to tears and crabby. Then a girls trip with my sister and elderly mother..not much fun then either, since she couldn’t get around. Your post made me think that dh and I will go alone before he and I are too old to enjoy this beautiful place. Such amazing houses. And I agree with you, if done right the coffered ceilings are timeless.

and mark..lots of fudge.

This horse was a very well bread horse, so much that it had a pitot. But your right about the spelling and this architect.

Joanna, just do a nice crown molding for some detail on that flat ceiling.

How high are the ceilings in the room?

Cielings at 9 feet throughout the entire home.

Can the bottom chord of a typical roofing truss be able to support a coffered ceiling? basically i have a basic drywall ceiling on the second floor and want to add some hollow wood beams for a coffered ceiling just not sure if a truss system can handle the dead load