I have a question though...as I exposed more of the ceiling, I came right up to the edge of the bottom side of the landing, and as I look up underneath the plaster, I can see the underside of the staircase.... (our stair case makes a U turn, and the plaster ceiling in the downstairs foyer covers up the backside of the steps. From what I can tell, the steps are in gorgeous condition also....but if I take the plaster off down in the foyer, I am left with the backside of the steps...the stringers and risers....is that ok? Trying to figure this out before I go all gung ho and take that plaster off also. Ultimately I would like to expose all of my ceilings and do away with the plaster that is covering up all of this beautiful wood...I'm just not sure how to address the issue of the underside of the staircase. I don't mind seeing it, but I don't want the house to look "unfinished".

I don't want the house to look "unfinished".

Exposed structural elements and services, i.e., wiring and plumbing, only look "finished" in a minimalist modern home or loft. Be aware, too, that without finished ceilings, your home will be a lot noisier than before.

Hmmm...that's a good point and one that I didn't think of......but hopefully area rugs on the wood floors upstairs can do a lot to muffle some of the noise coming through downstairs. We also have to do a carpet runner down the center of the steps ...my dog has hip problems and keeps sliding down the wooden stairs :(

I would be inclined to leave the plaster on the underside of the stair, unless you can get matching 200 yr. old hand planed boards, then it would be fine to panel it with those.
No-one wants to look at the unfinished underside of a stair. Plus the dust that will filter through.

Casey

I'm not sure I really understand what's going on here...why would you want no ceiling? I've never really been in a house with wood planks that acted as both a ceiling and floor?

There are a number of trinity houses around here that have exposed beams and undersides of floors. Most have kept the plaster on the undersides of the winding staircases. Some of them have exposed wiring in conduits, ducts and plumbing exposed...

The other issue that some of these houses have is light shining up through the cracks in the floor into a room where someone is trying to sleep.

A variation of this has been to drywall or put painted plywood in between the beams to leave the beams exposed but not the underside of the flooring.

I agree I love the look.

Am considering it in the kitchen remodel we are starting.
(Ours is only 100 year old though, not 200).

Concerns:
1. Dust & Dirt. I think would paint or seal the undersides of the floor boards.

2. Darkness. I am going to have oak cabinets, and a medium colored tile countertop. I think a dark ceiling would not look good. I like this picture of painted ceiling & beams.

3. Previous owners cut holes in the floors upstairs, and they were patched with plywood. Not sure how I would disguise them. There will be wall to wall carpeting upstairs for that very reason.

4. Resale - I have to remind myself that this house is going to be for resale soon. Just because I like it doesn't mean everybody will :(

Barbcollins, I love that picture!!!! I think that kitchen looks cozy and inviting...love, love, love it!

Krycek, lots of houses have exposed ceilings, at least around here they do...and I'm quite positive that a plaster ceiling, (nor plaster anything!) is not original to this house (former tavern in the 1800's). Judging by the nails used to affix the lathe to the beams, (type B cut nail circa 1870-1900) this house was most likely plastered in the late 1800's or early 1900's. While, I am not obsessed with restoring the house to original appearances, I do want to meld the old with the new. And the parts of the home dating back to the early 1800's I believe should be celebrated and appreciated. Plaster ceilings are BORING compared to beautifully aged and preserved 200 year old wood, at least in my opinion. I'd rather see rough-hewn beams and boards with a gorgeous patina and graining than a smooth plaster ceiling. A new trend that I've noticed on tv, and in magazines is people putting hardwood flooring on their ceilings. I'd never do that, but I certainly would pull down old plaster to have the "real deal"!

Palimpset, in my first floor foyer, I can always tell when someone has left the cellar lights on, there are a few places that the boards are not real tight together. It has made me wonder about cold air coming up through those floorboards...I like the idea of going down the cellar and putting plywood on the underneath of that floor. Of course, then I won't know when hubby leaves those lights on..lol!

Sombreilmongrel, your idea of the (equally)old boards on the underside of the staircase is a great one!! We are removing the upstairs level of our summer kitchen, and will salvage the floorboards and use that on the underside of the staircase. Great idea and solution to the problem, THANK YOU!

I know not everyone is going to agree with the idea of pulling down plaster. And I don't think it is appropriate for all houses, nor people...but my house is a log structure circa 1814 and an exposed ceiling is very much in keeping with the rustic/primitive look that I love, as well as my decorating style. We're lucky in that not much has been done with our home (other than the plaster work!) ....the electrical that has been installed in here is very minimal, I don't expect to see much in the way of electrical wiring underneath the plaster and the plumbing is all clustered in one area of the house, and we don't plan on removing the ceilings from the areas where the plumbing is.

As we progress, I'll post more pictures, and I'm sure I'll have more questions and be curious about feedback as well :)

Palimpset, what is a trinity house? I googled it, but really couldn't find information.

I do have an ulterior motive for wanting to do this...

I hate hanging & finishing drywall on the ceiling ;)

Its the name for a vernacular worker's house from the 18th and 19th century in the Philadelphia area.

Its generally a three room house, one room atop the other, on top of a slightly raised basement. The stairs are winders built into the corner on the fireplace wall. Kitchens and baths were usually added by building a small addition in the yard with kitchen on the first floor topped by one small bath or two.

These houses are very small, often on a 11-12 foot wide lot, which is an unbuildable lot today. If you look at some of the census reports they may have been lived in by 8-10 people at one time :)

a log structure circa 1814....Judging by the nails used to affix the lathe to the beams, (type B cut nail circa 1870-1900) this house was most likely plastered in the late 1800's or early 1900's.

Ah, now it makes sense! (As long as you can tolerate the aural clutter.)

So would anyone dare do this in a house they were going to sell?

We are going to have wall to wall carpet upstairs, so light and hopefully noise should not be a problem.

BarbCollins, I would certainly purchase a home with exposed beams, especially if the kitchen looked similar to the photo that you shared!!!(..and I'd be happy that I wasn't the one who had to remove that plaster!) :) What is your time frame for resale? You can consult a real estate agent regarding the issue...feel them out for their opinion. (I have no plans to move, but I do run most of my ideas past my real estate agent...who is also my friend.) We had been considering turning our summer kitchen into a family room, but upon discussing it with the agent, we decided that based on our specific home.....we'd be better off using that space for a first floor master bedroom suite. Sometimes it's nice to get the opinion of a professional, especially if resale value is a concern.

Most realtors have very little expertise with old houses & their opinions tend to be based on what sells in suburbia - or whatever sells, period! Knowledgable buyers of old properties don't nessasarily want the same things.

I was hoping to get it on the market this year, but our renovations are taking longer than expected.

I did a search on our local MLS, and can't find anything in our county (or nearby county's) that advertise "Exposed Beams" or "Exposed Ceiling".

Is that good or bad? Would a unique ceiling in the kitchen make us stand out and attract buyers or scare them off.

Our buyer will probably NOT be a knowlegable buyer of old properties, but a buyer looking for a "Move-In House" at a affordable price.

Guess I need a crystal ball :)

I think the exposed ceiling, especially if painted, would not be a detriment...especially if it matched the style of your decor. Can you post a picture of your kitchen? I'm very interested, and I'd love to see what you are starting out with, and then more pics as your reno comes along!

I found a picture (and I think it's actually a sloped ceiling in an attic bedroom, but it the look will be similar)...that I think will be a good treatment for the underside of our staircase. But instead of painting the boards, I want to use the naturally aged antique boards that we will be salvaging from our summer kitchen.

Ok... don't be scared :)

I posted this on the kitchen forum a while back. It was nicknamed the "REDRUM" kitchen. I'll be posting finished pics there (someday). The cabinets started coming out this weekend.

The wall where the stove is will be pushed back about 3 feet, since we are moving the basement stairs.

These are the used but good cabinets we purchased.

The tile for the countertops & backsplash. I have not decided on the flooring yet.

I love the taupe-y color of the tiles! What color grout are you using? We did our countertops a couple of months ago, but went with white tiles (the 2 inch tiles)..and white grout. Love it when it's clean..hate it when it's not! haha!

My "before" pics of my kitchen were really grim too...we've only done a cosmetic redo so far...but it's amazing what some paint and a little bit of newness can accomplish. I think your cabinets are a good choice.....MUCH BETTER than the old..that's for sure :) Are you going to leave them the oak color? Or paint them? To me, they look perfect for painting!

In the pics, it appears that your kitchen is really torn up..how are you cooking? Or are you dining out all the time?

If the tops of the boards (the floor side) aren't as nice...could you flip all the boards over? I'm sure it would be a boatload of work and may not even be possible but it's the first thought that came to mind when I saw these. :)

I have thought about that demolitionlab!....that underneath would look beautiful as the top of the floor! I might go down to the cellar and look up at the bottom of the floorboards in the foyer, to see if they are as nice as the ones on the underside of the landing I'll also ask my hubby if he thinks it's "doable". As it is now, the tops of the floorboards had been painted, several times over the past 200 years. I've spent many hours working on them, and can't remove many flecks of the oldest paint (I believe it was a milk paint). Of course, I haven't had them professionally refinished, so that would probably make a difference.

Jiggreen, I like the looks of the exposed flooring, and it would definitely be appropriate for your house! Glad to hear you are salvaging a lot from the summer kitchen too!
Barb, if your house is only a century old, it won't be built like Jig's--yours is 99% probability that it is 'balloon framed', and you won't have large beams to expose, except for a center beam supporting joists of standard dimension lumber, and you most likely will have a subfloor rather than nice wide planks. For your ceilings, it would be more appropriate to cover the current ceiling with beadboard, either stained or painted--that was done in some places--actually, beadboard at that time was often called 'ceiling', which gives a clue as to it's major use. :) Also, exposing brick was only usually done in Craftsman or colonial style houses, and only then on fireplaces.
Hope this helps!

Tin ceilings are also era appropriate.

jiggreen - Yes, I got lucky with the tiles. Got them at a liqudation auction at a great price. Have enough for this project, and another one down the road.

I'm going to leave the cabinets oak. Haven't decided on grout color yet.

As for cooking - We don't live in this house. We spend weekends there sometimes. Cooking is microwave, crockpot or gas grill outside. Or, going out.

columbusguy1 - You are correct! We have an old balloon frame. I don't have a pic but we have taken down some drywall in the kitchen ceiling. No we don't have large beams but do have rough sawn lumber. No there is no subfloor. What we see is the underside of the old heart pine flooring. Yes the bottoms look better than the tops.

Truthfully, we are not trying to "restore" this house, just get it back to a livable condition.

Nice to hear that Barb--I don't have subfloors in mine either, built in 1908--alas, the only place the framing is exposed is the basement--and a p.0. painted about 1/2 of it, the rest is original patina. In removing the dropped ceiling in my kitchen, I discovered a maze of piping for the upstairs bath and a large area of missing plaster where work was done later, so I had no choice but to drywall--but at least the ceiling height matches the rest of the house now.
Here is a fun question: why is my pantry the only room in the house which has molding at picture rail height? No sign of it ever having been in other rooms?
Also: why are all the downstairs door knobs and plates relatively plain bronze, while every upstairs one (even the attic) have bronze ones with an egg and dart pattern around the edges? Yes, even the knobs themselves have it!

I know a lot of times they used different materials upstairs and downstairs. Usually better downstairs, since they figured guests wouldn't go upstairs back then. My sons house has different flooring downstairs, and a lower quality upstairs.

I am crossing my fingers that we can save the flooring in the living room. I can see the bottoms in the basement and it is beautiful wood. It is covered with particle board and laminate upstairs. Not a good sign.

Our P.O. cut large holes in the floors upstairs to install lights in the ceiling downstairs :(