Hi all, Yes I get the risks involved, which is why I'm taking the time to try to get as much technical input as humanely possible before doing anything. Certainly it would have been much more risky of me to go right ahead and make structural changes without that. Repeating over and over that I shouldn't be asking the internet isn't doing anything. I appreciate those of you such as BobH, live-wire_oak, and jdesign_gw who actually share helpful, technical information for me to look into. To be clear, I've never planned to go ahead and dive into demo based on the conversations here. I didn't mean to give that inaccurate impression. This is just a sounding board to try to collect information. I am continuing to contact local professionals who can come see the house in person. C

While it’s true that you need an on site inspection by a structural engineer to absolutely determine the answer, I think the likelihood that those are load bearing is in the 99%+ range. Given the spans involved and the placement, I can’t see that these are simply ornamental. The likelihood is that the architect wanted an open plan and tried to disguise these intrusive, but essential, columns by making them look ornamental. Based on where you live, costs for remodeling like this can vary widely, but, even if you are in a lower cost area, I don’t see how this could be done within a $5K budget. Besides the cost of materials and the labor, the repairs to the walls and ceiling, the re-painting, and how you will fix the holes in the floor after the columns are removed will run up the costs of what seem like a modest project. I know this isn’t the answer you were hoping for, but I think it’s a realistic one.

if one is load bearing, then the other one is prob carrying some weight too. (they're both next to each other. Load bearing means the joists are running across it. so if it's running across one, it's running across the other too! if you remove those posts, you can install a large beam to support the joists running across it. Similar to what is shown here You could have a beam like this already, but maybe it isn't rated to stand alone, without those posts. If it's not loadbearing, you can remove them w/o doing anything else. no way to tell unless you can take a peek up there and see which way they're running

I'm trying to read code on phone (not easy). In 602.3.1 exception 3 it says you would need snow load of 30 or less, and you're showing 50.  Have you looked into pole barn construction? You could clear span the entire garage with scissors trusses, say 6/12 upper, 3/12 lower slope. With 12 ft. sidewalls, you'd get 16'-9" clear at the center. The heights and slopes can be varied of course. Pole barn construction with trusses uses so much less lumber, you may be able to sub it out for the same price as DIY. Plus, you'd get a wide open garage.