Paint the ceilings a color besides white, tying both rooms together..Or frame the room so the ceiling slants down to the height of the next room.

We had the same exact issue in our single story home. The family room had a ceiling that followed the roofline from 9' at one end up to about 18' at the other. We had a contractor build a "false ceiling" using clear cedar. We changed the pitch of the ceiling to the center of the room and had the cedar angle down to meet the opposite wall at the regular 9' height. It's just dead air above the false portion of the ceiling but it has totally changed the feeling of the room. I'll try to attach some photos.

did you say how tall the ceilings are here.....either way the fan will be useless stuck up in the rafters. I just hung 2 24 inch fans on a 9 foot patio, they ended up at about a 7 foot level in the room which is fine. consider for the most part furniture and other details, how tall are you? how tall is your spouse? will it be looming?

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