Beautiful home. Not much can be done other than throwing up walls or removing hard surface flooring for soft surface (like carpet or cork).

Thick, soft material wall hangings might help....but you don't have enough "continuous" wall space to hang textiles or acoustic panels that would make a difference. This is where huge amounts of money could be spent with very little change in acoustics.

Retro fitting a space for acoustic dampening is very, very, very hard to do. It is very expensive even when done right. It is more expensive when done 'wrong'.

You would have to consider a big change to get any result. And your home's beauty (to my eye) is all about the hardwoods, the counter tops the flow of the space and the clean surfaces. The beauty (in the finishings) is increasing the problems with the architectural "echo chamber" that has been created. Everything is adding up to create an amplifier. Nothing can be done unless you look at a huge change of space and materials.

Right now you can try covering every stick of hardwood with area rugs...and then test it out for an week or two to see what difference that makes. If you get MASSIVE correction then you KNOW most of the problem is the hardwood. If you get a small correction then you have miles of work and tens of thousands of dollars needed to correct the issues.

Gather up every area rug you have in your possession and take it to the summer house. Cover as much floor space as you can. This is the only test you can do to find out where most of the problem lies. Cork flooring would probably be the cheapest change you could make. And I'm not trying to sell anything. I happen to know cork will deaden the echo in pretty much any space. Cork underlay under cork can create a space that is good enough for a sound recording studio. It can deaden sound in a space with 20ft ceilings.

After your "rug test" that you can hire an acoustic company to come in and do an acoustic assessment on the home ($5K-$7K should do it). They can create a document that mentions the problem spots and what materials/changes can be done (ask for a list of materials for each "fix") to minimize the problems. You can then hire a builder who specializes in acoustic builds to do the work.

Sorry but this is not an easy fix with this home. I'm so sorry. It is so beautiful I would ask myself how much it bothers me...

Thank you for your interest and for your suggestions. I'm hesitant to change the flooring (home was built just last year) but your idea to bring in all the rugs I own could answer some of my questions. The bedroom also has hardwood floors and MDF Channel Board but the rug and bedcovers help to keep the echo down.

Rugs help, but if you don't want rugs, a valance hung above the long window will do three things add color & absorb sound.

Here are some before and after photos. Notice we didn't block views with these window treatments, we hung them as high as we could.

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Your kitchen is beautiful!!

Your home is lovely! I would not want to hide the pretty transom tops of the windows, but a pretty roman shade, maybe even placed below the transom window would add color and a little fabric. Throw rugs really will help. Also, you will in some ways get used to it. When we switched over from carpet to hardwood, it took my ears a little white to adjust, but it no longer sounds hollow.

These pictures come from the design blog Home Bunch. This blog features many homes similar to yours and you may get some ideas from it. While I like your home the way it is - and don't feel it is cold, a soft blue / green wall color or even a creamy yellow might warm it up a bit for you.

I particularly like the photo of the stairs that you provided. Currently we do not have a runner on the stairs but a jute runner might be just the thing. Will coordinate with the rug in the foyer.

Clever use of runner rugs for stairs and in the kitchen and hallways could help. Some non-skid pads underneath might also muffle sound. Replace the hard bar stools with some padded and upholstered ones that have wood rather than metal legs. Hang a fabric art piece on the wall above the one stool. It is possible that some type of sound absorbing acoustic material could be installed on top of the cabinets that don't reach the ceiling.

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Your home really is beautiful. I think you've received good advice here. While you can't easily relieve all the hard surfaces except for some rugs and window treatments, these and the addition of some soft colors could make a considerable difference. Even if they don't actually solve all the acoustic problem, softer, warmer colors and fabrics would make it LOOK warmer and that would be half the battle. You might even try out some fabric hangings or tapestries on the walls, in the staircase etc. Good luck!

A Colorful Art Tile Hanging over the stove (easy to clean, comes in larger sizes) and some colorful art around the staircase window will be easy ways to warm up and add personality to your Beautiful Kitchen area. You can add some colorful Cookbooks or Glass Jar with Colorful Pasta or utensils to the countertop. It wouldn't take much to do this and it will complete your room.

i also learned to unload my dishwasher very quietly, and to set things coming out onto a dish towel instead of right on the granite counter top. when dinner prep is going full tilt the sound isnt so noticeable to me, but when guests are sleeping and i'm trying to get ahead on the day, ouch, my vacation home is LOUD.

Good point. It's guests we worry about the most and placing a tea towel on the counter would help for sure. Unloading the dishwasher is a morning routine when guests are visiting and of course we don't want to disturb them (the main guest room is above the kitchen).