That was what I thought. The contractor thinks of the fan for smell control; I hadn't even though of that, only of the steam problems that we have now in an old bathroom with no vent fan. I asked whether it should be put in the shower ceiling, but he said that no one does that. The ceiling outside the shower is only 5'x5', so maybe it doesn't matter too much.

I don't love the revere pewter. But I really think it will be a few years before I get around to changing it. Mostly because this house needs sooooo much both big and small (kitchen remodel, bathroom remodel, haven't even found a desk for dh's "office" space yet, ds wants a different bed for his birthday, etc, etc.) and because I don't hate the color and it works well with the adjacent rooms, curtains and so on. So I was more or less thinking this would be a chance to play around with the tray ceiling without much commitment. I have never had one before so I don't have any experience to draw on for how to treat it. Since that part had to be painted anyway--at least touched up--I figured it might be an opportunity to try something out. Then if I don't love the effect, I can change it when I repaint the whole dining room. Creamy. Hmm. I like the sound of that, but I think it might be a bit of a trick to do the inside part of the tray creamy and not make the outside part just look like a dirty white. . . .

Wow! Thanks for all the responses and the photoshopping. I kinda dropped out of the loop on Sunday, too. I forgot to mention that the ceiling is at 10' and the tray goes up to 11' with the rope lighting tucked into the crown molding at the 10' level. The tray comes in 2' from the walls on all sides. The room is 13' x 15.5' and the doors are 8' high. One of the reasons I thought about painting the 10' portion of the ceiling peacock is to make it feel a bit cozier. The problem with doing the inner part of the tray in peacock it that it might swallow up the effect of the rope lighting. I wish I knew what I was doing with fabrics, as well. We don't have a rug in our current dining room, so I figured we would find a rug we like and then take it from there. I plan to make drapes to pull across the French doors for privacy since the DR is at the front of the house. I will also recover the dining room chairs once I have the other stuff figure out. Here is a picture of the chandelier. It may just dominate the space & I won't want to do anything else. Also, I thought I would include a picture of the house (screened porch on back right isn't done, yet), just so you got the "flavor". We don't mind doing the painting ourselves after we move in. DH suggested we get some foam board, cut it into 2' wide pieces, paint it peacock and then tape it up there to see what we think. The only furniture in the room besides the table & chairs will be a 1930's (I think - bought it 2nd hand & never got the full story) mahogany sideboard with low hutch that has very square, clean lines. Ideas for fabrics, etc. would be greatly appreciated. The great room is camel and the hallways are the same color but 1/4 strength. The nearby powder room is also peacock and I plan to stencil a very large peacock on the wall in gold which is inspired by Whistler's Peacock Room at the Freer Gallery in DC. Here is a link that might be useful: Large Peacock Stencil

Looking at the original plan that you posted with the fireplace centered...could you tweak that to move the entrance to the bedrooms? Eliminate the coat closet and slide the door to the bedrooms down? You could retain the foyer wall where it is and have a more private entrance to that wing. It might mean moving the bathroom door (swapping it with the linen closet). But that way, you could retain the ceilings of the original plan AND have a centered fireplace with symmetrical built-ins on either side. Just a thought....