I have a negative reaction to round columns.

Do you have extra flooring in order to patch it? I assume that the floors are engineered wood = styles/colors change often - so, you will have a difficult time finding some to use for patching.

What does the rest of your home look like? What does the exterior look like?

We have extra flooring. It’s a Florida style home.

The columns are a bit much, but you also have nice crown molding and a ceiling medallion, so someone added these for design reasons.

Decide what works for you and be consistent throughout the house. It looks like it’s a lovely home.

Will you leave the ceiling details as-is if you remove the columns? Right now at least it makes sense together and your home has other formal decor.

I think the columns work. With the details of the opening I think it would look awkward with out them.

Thanks for the advice. I wasn’t sure if they looked dated. or not. Also, I wasn’t sure how it would look without. them.

I think they look dated and the space would look better without them.

There is nothing wrong with having traditional elements in the space, like the ceiling medallion, but these are verging on soap opera set decor. My parents had columns like this, which they had removed. They patched the floor and ceiling. the space look very different and much better without them.

I love the green on your walls.

They work with the decor I can see in photos. They do appear to be very shiny. As part of an overall design theme (I see some painting going on) maybe you could tone them down by painting them a white satin or even matte finish or even a darker color that would be part of a plan, not just darker on their own. See how this painted column is part of an overall color scheme.

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If you're going to keep them, I'd tweak the capital. I'd add some trim to the top piece with the "vents" to dress them up a bit to fit in better with the light fixture and your mirror in the next room. Even if you just put a thin strip of trim over it to make it solid, it would look more finished. You'll have to remove the small trim already at the top and replace it once you've put a thin trim strip over the "vents" but that square piece and the trim are likely all separate pieces from the column so you can easily replace that trim near the ceiling. Don't go crazy and muddle it up, just make it look more finished and formal like the rest of your lovely home.

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This is a nice example with a solid capital (no vent) and a small piece of trim at the top.

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Love the dog!

Great advice! Here are some additional views through the room. I thought more pictures might give you a better feel for how they look. I was concerned that they may look too busy.

The walls and ceiling locations would look awkward to awful without the columns. All the arches and bulkheads would need to come out as well. How have you determined that the columns are not supporting anything? What is the extent of the work you had planned after column removal?

There’s a hole at the top of the columns. I was able to put a knife all the way through. They were totally hollow. I agree the arches would need to come down as well. If we took away the arches and columns, would it look better?

Are you sure the columns are not supporting the bulkhead walls above them? If not, then the walls must be hanging from the ceiling structure. If you remove the columns would suggest you remove the bulkhead walls as well.

I agree. Would it look better without the bulkhead and columns in your opinion?

The columns and the way they define the semi-open plan into rooms is part and parcel of the design and character of this style of house, such as it is.

Without those "outlines" or delineations of the spaces, what have you got? One kind of amorphous polygonal undefinable space, and is that any better than what you have?

As for "dated", okay. They don't build houses exactly in this style currently, there have been some changes, maybe. But you are not going to be able to turn this into something that looks brand new, it has too many elements of something else. It would take a lot of demolition to do that.

As for round columns vs square. if you change them to square, how do you orient them? Right now, many of the bases and capitals of the columns are oriented with the wall angles but that means they are offset from each other. Having square columns set at various angles to each other all over the place is not going to look any "cleaner" or simpler than this.

I also see neo-classical chandeliers which fit with the overall architecture. Are they going too?

My gut tells me maybe no every one is a supporting piece but I sure would want to know what each one is doing . I hate tem but i aslo want my house to keep standing

" There’s a hole at the top of the columns. I was able to put a knife all the way through. They were totally hollow. "

Yes, the columns are hollow (always are and by design) and the cap and base are purely cosmetic and not supporting the load. The columns themselves carry the load and I would bet they are supporting the bulkheads, they are not purely decorative

And are the ceilings all the same height? They do not look like it.

" Would it look better without the bulkhead and columns in your opinion? "

Not without the 50K plus remodeling to make the rooms look like the columns were never part of the design. It is pandorsa box because removeing the bulkhead at the columns is nto enough. Looks like the there is a bulkhead and soffits all over which will now look out of place with some of them removed. It will just keep going and going and going. One leads to the next, so on and so on.

As for columns I know someone who built a new house with a fairly symmetrical plan and a colonial revival interior. There were maybe four columns in the house, in balanced pairs and locations. One out of the four supported a beam. All the others were fakes.

Maybe it’s best just to try to make the columns look better?

I agree that they are a design choice that is no longer in fashion. But I also agree that removing them will lead to other changes that may or may not work, and will cost a lot of $$$. Leave them and focus on other areas of design.

This is a Tuscan column. This is what tuscan columns look like. I would say, if anything they are slightly too small in diameter because the square capital of the column is supposed to project slightly beyond the "beam" it supports. And you rarely see this done correctly in modern construction. In any case I would leave them well enough alone, I am not sure what would be better than what they are?

Yes, just try to make them look better. As I see more of the house, it really is part of the overall design and also in some places, structural.

If you can't get a flat surface to cover the "vents" then build out the bottom part of the cap to create one and then cover it. You'll be amazed at how much it improves the columns by closing that up. Tone them down with a different finish paint.

I'd be interested to hear what a millwork pro thinks, but IMO, the cap and the base are swapped. If so, don't swap them, big effort for little gain, just tidy up the cap.

Not sure if this is feasible…could they be changed from round to square? Square columns would give a more updated feel, IMHO

IMO the darkness of the wood floor is contributing to the visual issue of the columns along with the color of the walls.

Perhaps someone thought they were going to 'update' the appearance of the home and decided that a trending style of adding wood flooring and gray walls would accomplish that. It didn't

No one is suggesting to install prefinished wide plank floors and grey walls in Buckingham Palace. Sometimes interior finishes have to stay true to the architecture of the house.

Light colored tone flooring and a warmer tone on the walls would take the emphasis away from all the columns which are likely bearing. Good Luck.

Once again, @BeverlyFLADeziner nails the solution!

I would remove them and paint the trim and walls a lighter tint, the dramatic white contrast is too much.

tozmo1,Thank you.