Cathedral Ceiling in MB and surround sound in family room

11 years ago

This is my first post. My wife and I are looking to build our first house in a typical subdivision in the Ann Arbor Michigan area. We just got done with a preliminary quote from the builder and I was pleasantly surprised that with all the options we added we were only 6% over the amount I wanted to spend. With that though I'm not sure about a couple of the upgrades and wanted to ask those questions.

We have an option to have cathedral ceilings in our Master bedroom ($1,045) and I think it might be nice to make the room look larger, but at the same time my wife and I really could care less. I've heard that they are hard to changing lighting, and they are hard to paint. For resale is this something people really prefer over not having it.

We were also asked about wiring for surround sound (7.1 is $345, I can't remember 5.1 but it was 100 or 150 less)and how we wanted to wire it. My wife is a little opposed to this idea. I think she would like to have wireless surround sound. My question is around the differences between 5.1 and 7.1 besides price. In an open concept family room does 7.1 even make sense? Also if anyone knows can I only buy a system for 5.1 and still use the 7.1 wires?

Thanks for all reply's I have a lot more questions but figure these are the two that are on my mind at the moment.

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Comments (5)

new2build
11 years ago
I would wire now for 7.1, keep wires in walls and take pics before sheetrock goes up. Yes, you can use 5.1 (front 3, side surrounds), without using the back speakers. Most modern AVR's can acoustically tune your speakers for your room (audessey room correction etc..)
nini804
11 years ago
When we were building our house, the architect originally designed our MB with a 10' ceiling like the rest of the house. Dh realized that since our MB is basically in a one-story wing off the back of our house...we could take the ceilings all the way up to the roofline. We thought it would look so grand. Well, after it was dry-walled, it looked ridiculous. So plain. So we had to spend several thousand dollars to have beams installed to at least give it some interest. So then it looked pretty. And they laid the HWs, and stained and finished them, and it looked prettier still.

And then we moved in. And even with an area rug...OMG, we feel like we sleep in Grand Central Station. Not cozy at all. And every snore and cough is magnified...the whole first week we lived in the house I would be asleep, hear a crashing sound, leap out of bed to find out what mirror or light fixture fell...never figured it out. Then one night, it happened again, but dh was awake. He said, "well, I figured out what the crash was...I coughed and you bolted up like you were on fire."

Sorry for the long story, but that is my cautionary tale against cathedral ceilings in bedrooms. Do a pretty coffer on a normal ceiling instead.
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dpusa
11 years ago
I would echo nini804 - we saw a home with a high master bedroom ceiling and it felt REALLY sterile
ILoveRed
11 years ago
Nini--that gorgeous home of yours...I'm surprised to hear that there is anything less than perfect!
nini804
11 years ago
It is amazing what you figure out after you actually live in the house!!! :)