Thanks for all of the responses! It sounds like the majority here like the green, with a few votes for the brown. flyleft - yeah, I showed the pics to hubby. It's not that he dislikes the idea of a colored ceiling, it's just taking on the project. He actually has a point about getting involved in a project like that at this point. We've been moved in for a few months and we still have a LOT of 'settling-in' to do, to put it mildly. Once spring comes we'll also have lots of landscaping projects. Also, this ceiling is so high, and the room is large enough that it probably isn't as easy as getting a large stepladder and would require scaffolding. Also, it is continuous with the area over the stairs, so it would be somewhat of an undertaking. Funny thing is, when the painting was being done originally, I wanted to paint the ceilings something other than white, but came by one day and it was already painted (the contractors worked very fast, which was a blessing and a curse.) I just didn't want to get into asking them to re-do it, and I let it go...well, sort of, obviously. :-) lmalm - that's a wonderful transformation! Must be a lot easier to relax in there now - LOL. Thanks for posting the pictures, your color looks very similar to mine. prairiegirl - thanks for the compliment on the fireplace. It's a full masonry natural stone woodburner. There's a smaller version in the basement. So far we love them. Love the real wood fire. Someday, when we're more settled I plan to post lots of pictures around the various forums, since we got so much info here. That is IF I ever get settled enough to take post-worthy pictures. maxsam - thanks for the pics, and the light fixture compliment. I almost got a different one, but I'm glad I didn't! I REALLY liked some of the lights at the site below, but then I called for prices.... If I remember right, one of their smaller chandeliers (like for over a dining table) was in the thousands, and then they went up from there. I called hoping the lights would fit my budget, and I'd be done looking, but when the first question they asked was "are you working with a designer?", I just thought, "Oh crap, guess I'll have to keep looking." Here is a link that might be useful: Pretty & pricey lighting

OH my gosh, you are right. They could have repaired the pipes in the basement then air pressure tested the house. They really screwed up. Neighbor who's 76 was horrified and just as I thought - and had told the plumbers - she knew more about plumbing then them. We narrowed it down to pipes inside the shower wall most likely, I pulled up the tile in the upstairs room, and imagine this - she's going to come with her crowbar and help me pull out the boards behind the shower tomorrow. No those plumbers won't be coming back, they tried to call several times this weekend. Next is are they going to bill me and do I have to pay for this garbage? I told the owner of the company when I get a bill I'll sue so they don't need to bother billing me and they'll never step into this house again - they wanted to come "have the chance to fix it." I just can't believe this... at least today I wasn't in tears. But we didn't consider pressure testing. They should have, instead they blasted an old house that was vacant through a winter with water knowing there were issues. Stupid, stupid people who could care less.

Option 1: Move your range a couple of inches to the left or right, so you can send the pipe up between joists. Option 2: Use a different kind of range hood--one where the whole thing goes all the way to the ceiling, or one you put cabinets over--so that you can send the pipe straight up between joists(i.e., off center relative to the hood and the range) without the off-centeredness being visible. Option 3: Like Don says, elbow around the joist. Or, if this is just one joist you're proposing to cut, learn everything you can about the method Chrisk327 describes (or hire a reputable structural engineer to tell you what to do), and do that. But if you go that route, DO NOT jerry rig it, DO NOT just try to wing it or figure it out as you go--that joist is literally holding up the floor and/or roof above it, you don't want to get this wrong. Not to mention, an improperly supported joist can fall down into your kitchen... and fixing that ain't cheap. Which of those options seems like the wisest course to you? Assuming #1 isn't possible--maybe the counters are in the way--I would go with #2. Having to put the range hood you have on eBay and get a different one is a lot cheaper and less time and hassle than having to take a crash course in residential structural engineering, buy the materials and tools, chop into a supporting beam of your house (and hope you don't cause permanent damage), and then fix the ceiling up again around it.

"Fully cutting the rafter would be more work/money" Do you want it to look good? You will get a better looking product if you do it right. For example, my basement is not the tallest. I am finishing it. There were junction boxes and hvac lines all over. Do I just put a hanging ceiling that lowers the height for the whole area even more or do I redo the electrical and move the hvac lines so there is just one bulkhead (I had to add lines for the basement anyhow) and I can use drywall on the ceiling and get more headroom. Taking the time to get a quality product is worth it to me. Also as Joseph said, make sure your point loads on the ends of the beam go all the way down to the foundation. Weedy, that 'stairwell wall' does that have the strength to hold up the attic and roof? Point load means vertical beam going to a footer. You are safe on the exterior wall because the load transfers to a footer, but I dont know about the stairwell wall, where does that go?