Anyone install a coffered ceiling before? I'm thinking about doing it in my family room. We have 14' ceilings and I think adding this detail will really make a huge difference.

I have a few challenges. First, 14' ceilings. Second, I have a stone fireplace that runs all the way to the ceiling. Not sure how to tie in the wood trim to the stone (get it close and caulk?). Third, the room isn't perfectly square. One corner is angled. Not a huge deal but something to think about.

Just looking at it I feel like a contractor would charge me $6-8,000 to do a job like this but I think I can do it myself over the course of a week or so for about $1,500.

Anyone have advice or tips?

 

Not the best pictures, but my family room looks like this (more or less):



And I want to change the ceiling to look like this:

 

That's quite a bit of work for a one man job.

Sure it can be done, but that's a lot of time on a ladder.
Scaffolding, or 2-3 guys would help it go faster.

If budget is tight, another option for a 14' ceiling that makes a world of difference is crown molding. A minimum 12" size crown mold all the way around (painted white) and then paint the ceiling in another color of your choice. This would change the room dramatically, while helping with the "scale" of the room. The current state of "cream" colored walls meeting the "white" ceiling with no detail at the intersection has the room feeling bland and out of scale. I can see why you want to change it.

Is that wood flooring in the picture your current floor, or is it the carpet?

The color and design in the two photos are deceiving. The wood flooring is making a world of difference, even more so than the ceiling. You might want to considering spending your money on wood flooring, and crown molding versus a new coffered ceiling and staying with the neutral colored carpet.

Color alone makes a world of difference.

 

You may also want to go the pre-fab route.

There are a number of prefab kits you can purchase that include the "box" and the crown molding all in one piece.

Here are some links for some examples:
http://www.tiltoncofferedceilings.co...y-style-beams/

http://www.ceilingkits.com/deep_ceiling.html

http://www.cambridgeceilings.com/balmoral.aspx

 

The first photo is our house. Just not our furniture or our layout. It's from the listing last year. And yes, the carpet sucks. We're planning on new floors throughout the main level of the house next year or the year following.

The original owners were smart when they had the house built. They put their money into things that couldn't easily be changed later: upgraded kitchen layout, upgraded master bath layout, additional garage, 4' "bump out" on rear of house, etc. But the carpet and other flooring, as far as I can tell, is builder's standard grade and it's in need of replacing. Not only is it bland, it's starting to wear out. Trim throughout the house also appears builder's standard. Crown molding in the dining room and one or two other areas but that's all.

Good news is little things like trim are fairly easy to do and make a huge difference in the appearance of the house.

I'll do some measuring tonight to see how much room I have between the upper window trim and the ceiling to see what kind of crown molding I could do. I like that idea and I've done crown before.

If I did the coffered ceiling I wouldn't be doing it alone; I'd enlist an extra pair or two pairs of hands to assist.