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need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,please!
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Posted by stayn2busy (My Page) on Fri, Nov 6, 09 at 7:20
| We are building and I am in the panic mode. Because I wanted trapezoid shaped windows (4ft) on the side of the rock fireplace in our LR, our cathedral ceiling has now SOARED to 22ft!!!! Originally was framed at 17ft height, then the framers realized it needed to be taller to accommodate the windows (special ordered Marvin and can't be returned). The height can't be changed, but I am very concerned over the expanse of the room now. I DESPERATELY need any ideas to minimize the expanse of this ceiling (room is 19x20). It currently does not have any exposed beams, but could do some decorative beams. My other thought was to do a soffit on 2 sides of the room at the 10ft height to match the rest of first floor. I would love to post some pics... but can't figure out how to do that. If anyone has a similar room, I'd LOVE to see your pics. I'm open for any ideas... PLEASE!! We are building a country type house with wrap around porches on two sides....out in the middle of a farm. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| What do your plans show? The architect/designer should have planned for this, or have the plans been altered? |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| Very unfortunately, the designer that did our custom plans, in hindsight, was not the best.... or even good!! The framer said he "could've used a couple more years of school". They have found several things not thought out well at all and luckily been able to change some of it. Having never built a house, this is all new.... and certainly the most stress I've had in a very long time! Where the sides of the cathedral would normally come down and meet with the 10ft wall, ours won't...as the rafters extend beyond the LR walls... so on the sides of the room, it'll be 14ft!! I'm thinking of doing a soffit at the 10ft ht on these two walls to break it up... any other thoughts? I'm sorry I can't figure out how to post pics!! |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| go to Tinypic.com and download your JPG file, then click on the top result and then paste it into the text message window. |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| THANK YOU MACV!! Let's see if it works. I'm having my husband take some more pics of the rafters extending beyond the walls, so hopefully, I can show you what I'm talking about. Off to work for now! Thanks again for any input! [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/2i0up8x.jpg[/IMG] |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| Personally I would say first off stop panicking. It's not all that bad. A little high but that is to the peak of ceiling not the whole room. I would consider some horizontal beams at about the 14 ft height. They should be of good size. I'd think min. 8" wide x 12" tall. They could be stained wood or drywalled (most likely less $) The peak could also be brought down by flattening it off I would guess but not sure how your windows work I would keep ceiling about 12" above the window peak. Im not sure the soffit will do alot on the perimeter of the room. If using fans or hanging lights, they might want to be larger in size /scale to help fill the space /height. Also if there is a second floor overlook I would open it up wider if possible to let space open up and feel less tunnel like and let you see through to second floor spaces. Good luck. |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| Here are a couple of pics from my inspiration file of beams around the room as mentioned in the first post. I'm in a position with our build that I wish we would have made the ceiling higher (instead of 18')--I hope it turns out that you enjoy the change. 
For the change in exterior wall height, I'm guessing you've already purchased your roof trusses or other materials that prevent you from changing the roof pitch to accommodate the extra height of the center ridge?.?.? |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| On tinypic.com use the "HTML for Websites" at the top instead of the IMG version. |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| OK Macv... next try at this uploading pics. THanksAgain~ If it works this pic is of the 10ft wall with the added 5 ft of wall on top where the rafters extend beyond the wall. Elbartee... thanks so much for the pics. Doing a soffit around is one on my options. I like the look of it. BigKahuna... THANK you for your encouraging words. It's just a house and I shouldn't get so stressed about it. The beams are the other option.... would you do them where the wall & ceiling meet... looks like 15ft walls now?? OR do them lower? I'm so mad at the designer who did our plans... my fault, as I should've checked some references on him...ugh!! On the elevation, it looks like the trapezoid windows are within a ft of the top of the ceiling already... but some of our plans haven't been to scale!!! 
Here's the side view.  
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RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| Stayin ...Not that its just a house.. I'm saying relax somewhat because I dont believe it to be that bad( personally). I would start the beams where the walls meet the rafters. I believe you first said this was about 14 feet. The thing thats hard is not knowing where your windows lie in the upper gable. I wouldntstart the beams till about 48" from the walls to stay out of the way from the trapezoid windows. Study it and lay out the spacing on the floor to help. Uplighting can be put on top of the beams to add lighting effects as well. Id suggest looking at as many books and magazines or sites for some other inspiration if you have the time. Search great room pictures etc. or beam ceiling pics and see if you find some ideas or pictures that might give you some level of comfort. Good luck and as they say when you get lemons....Make some lemonade! Im sure you will be fine and look back on it with less stress. |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| Thanks Bigkahuna! It looks like the walls will be closer to 15ft. I googled beam ceilings and wasn't able to find much. I will "bing" it and see is I can find some ideas. Another thought I had, and tell me what you think, is doing that "wall extension" above the normal 10ft... finishing it the same tongue & groove as the ceiling will be. This will be a natural light colored wood. I guess I'm more concerned with the taller walls than I am the monstrous ceiling height. |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| I was waiting for the photos but all I see is a jumble of sticks. You need to show us the design drawings with dimensions and if there are none you need to field measure and draw the condition ASAP. |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| Now your getting creative. Whil I dont know that you need it thie idea with bringing the height down psychologically is great. I would be sure to have some sort of transition between top and bottom. It could line up with the second floor line for instance if thats the 10 feet you noted. The pics above have a soffit that kind of show a similar break. Keep a few ideas in mind and when you see the space with dryall you might better be able to feel whether you need anything or not. Some things will depend a bit on your chosen style and finish. The detail your talking about sounds somewhat like a craftsman style detail. Sounds like your getting the juices flowing though. Good luck |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| Macv... here are the plans, not sure if you will be able to see the dimensions or not. Thanks again for the uploading pic instructions.... now I don't have to be just a lurker on GW!! Thanks Bigkahuna! One thought I'm seriously thinking this morning, .... we have some hand hewn beams from an 1800's house down on our farm in MS. My DH thinks they would be long enough to span the LR. We are building in AR, so when we go to MS in a couple weeks.... I'll be measuring those for sure! I hope everyone has a beautiful weekend.... it's an absolutely gorgeous fall day here in central AR. 
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RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| I don't see the trapezoid shaped windows. Are these accurate drawings? To allow everyone a chance to participate in the solution it is necessary to define the problem well. Is there no section through the high ceiling showing the windows and fireplace from the interior? What is the builder using to guide his workers? If you are making the ceiling high just for the little triangular windows, I would forget them and design the roof and/or ceiling the way you want it. If you want light,an electrically operated skylight would be far more effective and offer some ventilation as well. If you add beams you could put your canoe up there. (cue Eric Weissman and Marshall Brickman playing the dueling banjo theme from Deliverance, OK, so it was in Georgia) |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| What's wrong with hangin' a canoe? We're hanging our 16' cedar strip wanacott off of the loft for dispaly/storage,(probably dispaly), as it's too awesome to put in the drink, we'll water our old pelican fiberglass. |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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Macv.... oops I was wrong, those are triangular windows not trapezoid shaped. They are not "little"... 4ftx6ft (sadly the guy that did the plans did not draw everything to scale). Since they are Marvin Wood special order, I will be using them, cause I won't eat that cost!! In the plans, no section showing the interior wall....once again... poor designer. Luckily, our framer is very good and has corrected alot of poor design in the plans.
As far as the canoe, good thought, but we don't own one. The Bayliner is docked at beautiful Greers Ferry Lake, but unfortunately with the house build, not much time for it....hopefully next summer! |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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Hi there-
Just wanted you to know that I think the beams are a good idea - but definitely look into the cost of those as well. We have a cupola on top of our family room (for exterior looks only). We looked into opening the ceiling of the family room to the cupola, adding windows to the cupola, and adding beams to the family room to bring the height back down. Cost was going to be 10K by the time the framing, beams, painting, windows, etc were all accounted for. We were stunned! So just make sure that 1) you like your new plan and 2)it doesn't turn out to be more expensive than re-selling those Marvins on ebay and revising until you have something you truly love! Now is definitely the time to figure out ALL the costs involved in the change.... Good luck. The drawings look great, so it's a shame they're giving you so much trouble. |
RE: need ideas quick.... how to minimize cathedral ceiling..,,ple
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| Thanks Niffy for the input. I've decided against the hand hewn beams, and think I'm going to do a soffit at the 10ft level along both walls, add some up lights and use some large decorative pieces up on the soffit. Also, think I'm going to extend the tongue & groove from the ceiling, down the upper wall to stop at the soffit at 10ft. I took a couple decorator friends out there today and they agreed this would look good, and give it a cozier feel ... which is what I want. I will try & remember to post pics back on here when it's all done. I appreciate everyone's input!! |
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