Our structural engineer required us to add a 13 in. high steel beam in our living room ceiling (where there was previously no beam). We weren't expecting such a deep beam and we're struggling with what to do. The ceiling is 10 ft high in a cape cod house. Our crown molding is white and 5 in. high and our wall color is beige. The contractor has already covered the beam in drywall. Some options we are considering:

(1) Paint the beam white and leave it alone so it blends into the ceiling, but we don't like how the existing crown molding starts and stops.

(2) Continue the crown molding around the beam on both sides and paint the drywall beige below it to match the wall paint.

(3) Add approximately 7 inches of additional flat, very thin trim below the existing crown molding all around the living room and on the beam, so the beam is all white and blends into the wall better on both sides. This seems like a popular way to hide the beam but most internet examples are for beams that are ~6 inches and not nearly as high/deep as ours. This feels like a lot of molding for 10 ft ceilings.

(4) Separately, regardless of how we clad the existing beam, should we add a faux beam on the other side of the living room so it looks more balanced visually, or is a bad idea to add another beam that drops over a foot down from the ceiling? We don't want to make the ceiling feel lower.

We'd really appreciate any advice. We're going around in circles on this.