Ceiling Height: 8, 9, 10?

I weighed in a few days ago on a post over at GardenWeb/Houzz about ceiling height.  Of course this is a personal preference and has a bit to do the sizes of the rooms in the house–smaller rooms can afford shorter ceilings and larger/longer rooms feel less tunnel-like with taller ceilings.

Our house plan was based on a local model home, and it had 10ft ceilings on the main floor, so we knew that’s the direction we wanted to go, but thought that we might consider 9ft if the budget came to it.  10ft was important to us because a lot of houses built recently in Georgia have the “2-story” livings/entries, and we hate them.  They are impossible to heat; they make the upstairs impossible to cool in the summer because all the downstairs heat rises; they waste a ton of space; and sound travels right up to the kids napping upstairs–all this to make the room feel “grand”.  10ft ceilings gives the “grandness” of 2-story without sacrificing all the things above, and to us, it also doesn’t sacrifice the “intimate” feeling of the rooms.  It’s really the perfect solution.

This last week, I walked for the first time into our partially-framed first floor for the first time, I’m thrilled we held firm to 10ft ceilings with 8ft doors and 6ft windows.  The 10ft feels nice, of course, but added with the scale of the larger doors and windows, I think it’s my favorite feature of the house. It’s hard to communicate in the pictures, but the oversized windows and doors are making this house what it is.

We thought this was a mistake at first, but we learned something after thinking for a minute. This is how you frame a pocket door.
We thought this was a mistake at first, but we learned something after thinking for a minute. This is how you frame a pocket door.
These doors are 8x4, so they're skinnier and taller than normal. The windows are skinnier too, so these both look a little taller than even a taller 6ft window.
These doors are 8×4, so they’re skinnier and taller than normal. The windows are skinnier too, so these both look a little taller than even a taller 6ft window.
Tall triple windows for the breakfast area. They are awesome.
Tall triple windows for the breakfast area. They are awesome.

It’s hard to communicate the feeling in these pics, but I’d just encourage you to do it if you’re thinking about it.  As an aside, don’t do 10ft ceilings without the upgraded doors/windows.  Our basement is 10ft by necessity, and we didn’t do the upgrade to the taller doors/windows there, and it doesn’t feel nearly as nice.