Forget spending the massive amount of unrecoupable funds on difficult and useless renovations. Sell it and buy something else will be cheaper.

Why is your husband bumping into dining room light fixture? Either put furniture under the fixture or change the fixture.

Making a good, solid older house mimic a new TInkertoy McMansion is a futile enterprise, and when you're done you have a house that's lost its identity.

Worse, what you propose is a major expense and a major life disruption, with no prospect of recovering the cost when you sell. Did I mention the stress it puts on your marriage?

I agree with Sophie. Sell the house and buy something more like what you really want.

PS - I'm 6 feet and I'm not bothered by 7' 8" ceilings. Your hubby will get used to it. He's probably just looking for an excuse to blow big bucks on renovations. :-) It's much cheaper to just replace the hanging DR light fixture with a surface mount. Even cheaper: if it's on a chain, shorten the chain.

I have had 8 ft ceilings for years and years. My husband was 6 ft 3, and he never once complained that the ceilings were too low. Thats the average height of most ceilings, when some of those houses were built, unless they were built by wealthy homeowners, who then use 9 and 10 ft ceilings. Actually, it is still average height ceilings in some areas and tract homes. Custom homes usually have vaults, or tray ceilings, or something a bit fancier. Putting in tray ceilings, is very expensive. I would opt for the skylights and leave the ceilings alone. Your dining room light fixture shouldnt hit anyone in the head. It should be centered over the table.

Son is 6'4". He has no trouble in my house with 8' ceilings (which are in fact, 7'8"), but then I do have a table under the chandelier in the DR, and I have hung any pendents very high if they have nothing under them. Late husband was 6'2" so he had to clear any hall lighting.

Sophie and others are right - you will quickly be over-building your house and will need get your money out of it. You also won't be happy with it, either.

I'm confused. You're proposing to add a tray ceiling to a 'very low' 8' ceiling to raise the ceiling height?

It is an old house

How old? Wood frame house?

From the age of the home, it is all 8feet ceiling height.

Are the 8' ceilings original to the house?

Except for master which has vaulted ceiling which goes to 9feet at center.

Is the master an addition to the original house? Or something like a garage conversion?

To clarify, the tray ceiling is being added to add space, so actual ceiling would stay at 8’ and tray would be created by raising it to 9’.

Even more confusing. A 1' deep trough around the perimeter of an 8' ceiling?

If the house was built with >8' high ceilings and 'dropped' in a past remodel, you can restore to the original height.

If the ceiling has been dropped, you may discover that there were good reasons to drop it.

Like crumbling plaster. Or to accommodate things like HVAC ductwork, rewiring...

If the original ceiling height is 8', what you're proposing is far, far from being a 'cosmetic change'.

Light fixtures over a dining room table with 8 ft walls should be 30-34 inches above the top of the dining room table.

I am surprised by all the folks who are confused about a "tray ceiling." The exisiting ceiling would stay the same height around the edges for about 12 inches, but would have a tray section in the middle that is raised to nine feet. This required complete demolition and re-framing of the current ceiling which is a lot of work. I had this structure in one of my houses, and its a nice look, but it was designed in from the beginning.

In my opinion, 8 foot ceilings are the norm and you would be extremely unlikely to recover the cost of trying to make them taller. There are better upgrades to spend your money on.

Bruce

I'm assuming there is no second floor, right? Otherwise there'd be no possibility of raising the ceiling.

Has your contractor given you a price point on raising the ceilings? If not, I think you'll be in for a big surprise.

Standard remodeling building practices do the tray the easy way. It’s a dropped soffit around the perimeter, not rebuilding the house. You end up with the same Center height, not taller. Getting a taller ceiling requires rebuilding virtually the whole house. Rebuilding the house is not an option in an existing home, because there is no way for it to ever be cost effective. You might as well do a teardown and rebuild.

OK, I get it now. (Maybe the fact that I banged myself in the head with a hammer yesterday trying to pull a long ring shank nail from overhead had something to do with the confusion! :-)

If the 'old house' has dropped ceilings (not unusual), not that difficult to do. If the original ceilings are 8', that's a whole other story. As in pulling off some or all of the roof and rafters, joists, or trusses and replacing with engineered tray ceiling trusses.

Assuming there's no second floor and the house is stick framed (no trusses), making a tray ceiling is basic carpentry. That said, there are several things to consider.

Attic insulation would have to be removed, a huge mess. Ventilation and insulation requirements will require the tray to start three-four feet from exterior walls, because of the slope of the roof. The bigger the space, the better trays look; the smaller the space, the more awkward.

You mentioned skylights. My experience with them is limited and from thirty years ago, but all I remember is constantly climbing up a ladder to clean off bird droppings and being woken up in the middle of the night by lightning flashes and rain pounding like a drum.

I'd think about better lighting, bigger windows and wider, taller door openings.

Get used to the existing and turn off the TV. It’s not real life. It’s fiction.

I get the open concept, people seem to want that now. I have it, since this house was built that way in 1968. I dislike it, and would love to have a wall up, but, house layout, isnt built to do that. If you cant live without open concept, then do that. It will also cost more than you think. The wall may be load bearing too, and that is expensive to change. Skylights may be a good idea. I dont like can lights and in fact, changed the 4 that were here, to other type lighting, so will make no comment on that. I guess its up to you. However, if you decide to do can lights, make sure you have a good electrician come in and install them properly, and dont buy the cheapest ones you can find. I would choose living in the house the way it is, with minor updates, for a while, since you just bought it. The house itself will tell you what is best for it and your life style after living with it 6 months to a yr. Good Luck to you, whatever you decide. Bad and expensive decisions, are made, when you are excited and in a big hurry for things you want, and then then regretted down the road, when you have lived in a house a while.

cat_ky: " Bad and expensive decisions, are made, when you are excited and in a big hurry for things you want "

Yes! Good point! It pays to think things through.

You've asked for an honest "suggest.", So here goes:

You need an architect and GC team who work together. Get a real plan, from pros, that includes expected costs. If it still makes sense, and you can both afford it and live with constant construction, go for incremental fixes.

But whatever you do, get real professional help. Smart, smart people on this board- and they still can't help you without a lot more info.

Sorry to repeat myself, but you are living in the wrong house.

You have a 50 year old house. What you want is a 5 year old house.

By far the most practical and affordable way to turn 50 into 5 is to sell 50 and buy 5.

Let someone who will love that house with its existing personality buy it from you.

If you have lots and lots of spare cash lying around, and nothing more important to do with it, you could do what more and more rich kids do these days: knock down the house and build a brand new one on the resulting vacant lot. Obviously you need another place to live while all this destruction and construction are going on, so this is better done before you actually move in.

Bullying that old house you have into becoming the new(er) house you want will mean a lot of work, expense, and life disruption. You will tear your hair out, and by the time you're done, you may not have enough money left to buy a wig.

OP compromised on two major check points...high ceiling and open concept. Just a fact of life in house hunting; you never (or almost) never find The Perfect house.

Skil made a great post on how you can get the tray ceiling if you really, really must. Not worth the mess, expense ASAIC. It's just extra cubic feet of air that has to be climate controlled.

The dining area is only 10' wide...pretty cramped after you fit in table, chairs & people. Removing that wall (or part of it) would be a real improvement. Only potential fly in the ointment--is that a supporting wall?

If it is, you'll have to choose between having an exposed beam and possibly posts or a more expensive solution. In some cases, it is possible to buy the support beam in the attic.

Load bearing beams

I imagine my comments will be OBE, since you asked this 2 years ago, but I agree with graywings123 -- nothing but negative responses. As someone mentioned above, no home is perfect, but the joy of a home purchase is making the home your own. The sense of lightness and brightness is uplifting and calming. I say go for it, but as some did warn, get a great contractor and be prepared for the financial costs. Maybe you could update us on your ultimate decision and lessons learned?