Crown moulding is stained....open floor plan so it travels through house...cannot imagine how we would isolate or change in this one room!!,

Is it a wood beam, metal or drywall?

I am not sure you have room for crown molding once you put the trim on that patio door.....what is the width of your trim? It appears that you only have like 6" or 7" from top of door to ceiling.

So what I hear you leaning toward is take the crown molding off. It runs into other rooms without definitive stop point.

12" from top of door frame to ceiling.

Different room view

You'd be better to paint it white everywhere throughout your home. It's too small to be dark. Even if you leave the other trim wood colored the ceiling trim should be white so it won't stand out.

leelee, I have thought of that several times but the stress and expensive of having to go through the whole house is overwhelming. I really am struggling with trying to make it it's own space, therefore get rid of the dark, yet this house flows from room to room. I am afraid of losing that flow. So difficult

I don't think the beam is so bad. What about painting the ceiling the same color as the walls?

The ceilings flow throughout the whole house. There is not clear "break off point"

I tool the moulding down.....Wow did it open the space. Unfortunately, that cist me as
I had to make changes n dining room but Worth it I think.