I think those small rooms are too small for even 9' ceilings. They'll feel like an elevator shaft. But the master should be plenty big enough to have even 10' ceilings feel proportionate.

From the front elevation, it appears that changing the ceiling heights will have a significant impact on the look of the house. Before you finalize anything, I would ask for an elevation to be drawn with the new changes. I suspect you'll end up with 3 even triangles across the roof which won't be nearly as attractive. But they can probably work with the design to restore the appearance of the front of the house.

hmmm. interesting, and i agree with what you said 100%.

here's another question based on your response. i could skip the hallway and go with larger rooms, they would be around 12x11. would that be an okay size for 9 ft ceilings, or still too small?

Here are two floor plans to reference, one with and one without the kids hallway:
WITHOUT HALL:
http://www.goodenhomes.com/2710%20pdf.pdf
WITH HALL:
http://www.goodenhomes.com/2700d%20pdf.pdf

We are also building a split floorplan ranch home. We are doing 11 foot ceilings in the common areas and the bedrooms, mudroom will be 9 foot ceilings. The master is 16x16 and the two kid bedrooms are 12x13.

I think it's personal preference about how the smaller bedrooms look. My sister has two bedrooms that are 10x12 in her ranch home and they have 9 foot ceilings and look great.

I would go with 9ft in the kids rooms. 8ft feels closed in and I think 10 may be too tall for a 12x13 room.

fwiw, we have 9ft ceilings on our main level, plus cathedral in great room and MBR. Just over 10.5 ft throughout our lower level, with the two smallest bedrooms downstairs 14x16.

im not sure how accurate this information is, but we wanted to go 10 feet ceilings in our house but our architect said it would be a fairly significant amount of money to go the extra foot. I've heard some conflicting information about this, but it would be good to get an idea of the cost difference before you decide.

I don't particularly like the bedrooms opening into the great room, but adding a hall sure does squeeze those bedrooms. Small bedrooms are no issue for younger kids but once they're older it's a different story.

12x11 with a 9' ceiling I think will probably be fine. My old house had 9' ceilings with 12x12 rooms. They didn't feel awkward the way a smaller space like the utility room did.

Whether or not going to 10' adds a lot of cost is going to depend on if there are precut studs available in your area in the height you need.

regarding costs, we already have the 10 fters factored into the bid for the main areas. the rest are slated for 8, but with the 9 ft increase we add about 3000 overall, which we are okay with.

i am glad a few of you are recognizing my question and also seem torn as to what to do about the hall. who wants the kids room opening into the middle of the living space? but at the same time, the hall sure cuts into the kids rooms. ugh.

thanks for all of you being so sweet on this thread. i have another thread going and a few people have really made fun of the house/plan. it is sad that people dont seem to understand how personal building a home is. this plan is making me nuts, but it is the one we are trying to work within to create an open yet cozy plan. i would love to hear any recommendations about the hall or the ceilings you guys can come up with.

one idea i also had was to create a larger single room up front out of the two dining/living spaces, offcentering the front door, and having a small mud room near the entrance.

thanks again!

from a different perspective...
changes in ceiling heights create kneewalls in the attic.
while it looks great from inside the house, the view from the attic shows step-ups in ceiling heights that cost you money. these kneewalls should not only be insulated the full height in the attic, but also sealed to keep attic temps from entering these walls and adding to heat and cold gain in these rooms.
Energy Star has a printable Thermal Bypass Checklist that you should print out for your builder.
He should seal all openings from unconditioned to conditioned space. Insulation does not stop this bypass, as it only slows air movement.
We make sure that knee walls are not only insulated, but air sealed to stop these issues.
So make sure that in addition to insulation that these knee walls are sealed. Foam sheating works well, cut to fit each knee wall and caulked and nailed in place.
To see where to seal other openings from attic to conditioned space visit Southface institute's website
do a search for air sealing factsheets.
You would be amazed at the amount of energy loss, elevated utility costs and problems with indoor air quality that not sealing these areas create.
Thermal boundries (insulation) and air barriers are very important.
Either you you pay to insulate and seal now at a one time charge, or you pay monthly for not doing it!
Lovely home, btw!

best of luck.

WOW!!! thank you for this info. I cut and pasted it and sent it to my hubby the engineer, who will make sure he goes through that checklist and takes care of this. i do not think we had the kneewalls marked for inulation of sealing. THANK YOU.

While i have your ear, may i ask you if you know anything about keeping the air./heat even? In every home in this area that we have lived in that is new (most by this same builder), the front kid room always is hotter or colder than the rest (lags behind), so we end up having to put in fans and space heaters. any advice?