here is another photo

the photos just don't show it well but the beams go all the way up to the ceiling . I didn't care for it in the photos but when I saw it in person I was impressed.

The look is going to very different if you change the ceiling height to 9 feet. You would loose some of the light comming in through the two story windows and also have to modify the beams.

In terms of visualizing I also struggle some times but my husband struggles most of the time. During the planning stages he had trouble with a lot of aspects so I would search for pictures on Houzz and other places with similar ideas and show . This seemed to help to some extent. The other thing that will be useful is to get 3d rendering/elevations from the architect/designer. This will help you see how things will feel.

I love the look of two story greatrooms and would love to have one someday. But after having 11' ceilings in our last home we really missed the cozy feeling and have decided to have 9' coffered ceilings in our greatroom in our newest and hopefully last build.

You can request elevation drawings from your architect, or you can do it yourself if you can put some time into learning the software. I spent about an hour yesterday watching the tutorials for Sketchup. Decided I'm going to download it and do all my own elevation drawings. Mostly because I want to play with color, finishes, furniture placement, and possibilities.
Changing your plan so drastically that you bring down that great room ceiling will change your second floor too. Honestly, if you don't want that high ceiling I'd recommend you shop for another plan.
I had a 24' ceiling in my last house in the great room, with a 22' wall of windows 2 stories high facing south. It was glorious, but energy inefficient, and we had real problems in the summer controlling the heat. The AC couldn't keep up with the sun effect. It's dramatic, but it pays to think through how it'll be to live with it before you build it.
We also always wished we had a smaller library to curl up and watch TV in.

That's an elevator shaft crossed with a church clerestory. Yeah, it's "impressive" when you walk in, but it will be physically uncomfortable to live in as a family space. The floor space is too small proportionate to the height of the room. The room needs to be at least twice as big to be proportionate.

I agree with GreenDesigns. The ceilings are too tall for the small space. I have an acquaintance who has this in her home and I don't feel it's very inviting.

This does not seem like a problem of visualization. To me it sounds like you prefer the double height space and are not wanting to settle for less. Perhaps someone else is telling you that this is not efficient or cost effective.

We could literally find thousands of pictures with living rooms that are 8-10ft -Otherwise why change something you seem to like?

So I guess the question really is:
Will double height cost that much more in materials and energy consumption?

Heat certainly rises and that is a problem with any two story house unless the stairway can be closed off but the more open it is and the further North you are the more problem it is...

Cost wise I could see at least a couple thousand dollars to build and yes it will probably cost more for energy every year for the rest of it's existence.

You might consider talking to someone who has lived in this model for a winter and see what they say.

Oh -I just saw the other thread. Questioning whether it was better to use that space for another upstairs room. That just depends on your preference or space vs. features.

This post was edited by ChrisStewart on Tue, Oct 29, 13 at 9:53

Something I found helpful was thinking about rooms I have liked and disliked spending time in, over the years. For me, high ceilings make me feel uncomfortable and exposed, but I know other people love the openness of them. It's personal.

I agree with others that the specific two story great room you posted isn't a comfortable space-- the window wall is overwhelming. I'm sure it's impressive to enter the room and see it, but it's not a space to spend time in, IMO.

For visualizing the house we're building, I was spoiled by the fact that my husband made a 3-d model of the whole thing. He made both a digital model, and a physical one, but the digital one was actually more useful because he could take "pictures" from any angle, and it let us see what changing the ceiling height or windows or whatever did to the room. The physical model is fun to have (there are tiny toilets and sinks! ) but it doesn't do much for giving a sense of what it will be like to live in the house.

Yep, we had a room exactly like this (the same house with the impossible foyer plant ledge) in the first house we built...except our heat sucking fireplace went all the way to the ceiling. A balcony overlooked it and it was impossible to get the kids to sleep at night because of the the noise that carried.

My oldest is 32 and she told me a few years ago that she watched all kinds of inappropriate movies with us without our knowledge, from that balcony,when she was a child. Stealth. Now she is a principal..can you believe it!

The room was always freezing in the winter and the upstairs was like an oven.

Just sharing my real life experiences. Please don't be offended.

We just gave our requirements/list to a potential new architect yesterday and at the top of my list was ....no 2 story rooms.

I do have a couple of rooms in this house that are 11 ft which are appropriate for the rooms. Not even sure I would do that again.

My cousin has a house that, I swear, looks EXACTLY like that.

It was impressive looking but, to try and control the heat, they eventually wound up completely covering the upper windows with heavily quilted curtains. Then, to try and further cut down on the echos that made conversation in the room nearly impossible, they wound up hanging flag-like banners from the ceiling and putting up several soft-sculpture "paintings" on the upper walls. The space is now reasonably liveable but is no longer nearly as impressive looking.

I can totally understand not wanting to drop the ceiling from 17 ft all the way down to 9 ft. But perhaps you could get some of the positives of a tall ceiling while counteracting most of the negatives by choosing a ceiling height somewhere between 9 and 17 ft. A 10, 11, or 12 ft ceiling can also be quite impressive and would allow you to have transom windows to let in more light (without going overboard.)

A medium height ceiling might not allow for you to use the space over the living room for a full room but, if you have a child's bedroom next to that space, perhaps you could use the extra space over the living room for a reading or play loft. Your kids would love it.

Just a thought....

"This does not seem like a problem of visualization. To me it sounds like you prefer the double height space and are not wanting to settle for less" Chirs, I really do feel like its a problem with visualization. I had my mind made up that we would not have any 2 story rooms before I went. When I got there the room looked so much better in person than it does in the photos. I then started to consider it. I tried to imagine it only 9 feet tall and started to feel clausterphobic because the room was so small. width and lengthwise. Now I currently have 8 ft ceilings in my entire house and I'm fine with it but imagining the ceiling coming down was a true problem for me visualizing (I am clausterphobic and used to faint when i was a kid whenever my mom dragged me on an elevator. It has gotten better over time but imagining the ceiling coming down was a true problem for me).

It was also hard to visualize because it connected to the stairwell and the foyer. It effected other areas of the house by lowering the ceiling.

Is it a good use of space? Probably not? Was I impressed when I went in? yes. Did it feel too high? actually it didn't and that may have been to the large beams...

The entire house is only 2100 sq feet. Will that be hard to heat with good insulation and windows? I don't know.

We probably won't go with the 2 story room just due to all the negatives but It is very difficult for me to visualize it any other way.

The ceiling in my master bedroom is about 10'6" high. 2 weekends ago I had to change the battery in the smoke/CO detector and ended up climbing on my dresser to reach it. One week later the bulb in the ceiling light fixture blew and I had to carry a ladder from the garage, through the house, upstairs to my room to change it. I was grumbling the whole time about my stupid high ceiling - and it's not even that high! (I'm a widow so unless my teens are home it's just me doing this stuff.)

Personally I'd rather have usable space on the second floor and I think a 9' or 10' coffered ceiling would be lovely. Here's a mockup; perspective isn't quite right but might help you visualize. And with white beams it might feel more open and airy.

chicagoans,
Thank you so much! That does help a lot. I just couldn't visualize it at all and now I can!! :)

I think I just worry about how we are buying a house without really "seeing" it.

I was always glad our house didn't have a 2 nd floor balcony as I'm sure I'd no longer be alive...my brother would've tossed me over that thing many times if he had the chance!

In addition to the heating and cooling and noise and lack of cozy factor, a room like that makes the other rooms look like armpits as they are so disproportional.

The impressive factor is a very short lived thing. I think we've had threads on just that point...short lived impressiveness vs long run practicality and livability.

Annie my husband was saying he could picture kids throwing stuff from the balcony....especially bouncy balls! : )

Two thoughts:

- What type of curtains or other window treatment would you use? How would you access the upper windows to open/close?

- What direction will your window face? My friend has a two-story room similar to this one, and here faces west. I don't know how she can stand it in the late afternoon. It is so stinking hot.

Mrs Pete,
I've pretty much decided to stick with a normal ceiling height now that I can picture it. I will have to talk the builder to find out what this does to the roof line or what I have to do on the upper level to adjust for this. The window would face east for the lot we are considering.

We have considered two lots. They are across the street from each other. So on one it would face east the other west

Just put your ceiling in, and then, I think you'll end up with a room up there--another bedroom or a playroom. You can put a wall up (from the foyer, you'll see your nice railing and then a wall behind it, maybe with doors or double doors) or you can have no wall and leave it an open play area.

What I can't tell, from the pictures, is what that GR ceiling is doing in relation to the upstairs ceiling. I can see that it has eaves/slanted ceiling on either side. Did the middle section, the level section, of that ceiling match up with the balcony ceiling in height? If so, I don't think you'll run into too many problems, really. You'll just get bonus floor spaces, and a more cozy feeling GR.

Kirkhall, Yes the living room ceiling matched up with the foyer ceiling.

My two cents...go with the low ceilings and have a playroom over the living room and a reading nook over the foyer. Those two spaces will get tons of use and they'll be much more appreciated than the soaring ceilings :)

I wanna add that I have a "church crossed with an elevator shaft" style living room, and I love it! The new energy efficient windows actually keep a LOT of heat out, and I have tons of trees that shelter the house in the summer and are bare to let sun in come winter.

Personally, I love how open it feels. My livingroom isn't large in footprint, but the height with all of the windows really makes the outside come in, almost like you're living out of doors. I just love not feeling like the house is closing in on me in these spaces. Especially with a fireplace where suddenly it's like being round a campfire. I take cozy with low ceilings for the bedrooms, where it's more like a 'tent'. But that's me. I always wanted a great wall of windows. Mine is some 31' tall... :s