How to deal with soaring ceilings

When we were shopping around for our home, we knew we wanted to build, and finding the perfect model was TOUGH. We are picky, me especially. I wanted something different.

When I found our model, I knew the instant I walked in that this was the one. Our entry, living room, stairway, loft, master bedroom and bathroom and are all open to the top of the house, I've figured at least 25 feet at the highest point.

I was salivating...gleeful...in luuurve.

Then we moved in.

I stood in those rooms with massive ceilings and thought:

What the H-E-double-hockey-sticks am I gonna do with all this WALL??

"Wall" was everywhere. I realized decorating this type of house was going to take some creative thinking -- aka -- MOLDING. (You are shocked I know!)

Many of my bloggy friends have been posting about this topic lately with fantastic solutions. I thought I would share some of mine with you over the next couple weeks.

This idea I blatantly stole from our builder. (If you are building a home -- pay attention to how they deal with these issues in the model!!) The tallest wall in our house is in the staircase, and this was my solution:

The builder had three of these huge squares going up the wall, but I value my life people. Standing on the top rung of an eight foot ladder, arms stretched to the max, hammer in hand, nails held between lips (this was pre-nail gun days) was enough of an adventure for me:

Like always, I put my own spin on it and painted the inside of the squares a slightly darker version of the wall color. You'll see this theme throughout the house -- I do this A LOT. (Some of you have asked the name of the darker color and I will have to find the paint chip -- Porter changed their paint names a while back.)

This was my very first molding project EVER. Awww...I know! Sniff. I used an electric handheld saw -- and NOT the circular kind. It was a miniature version of the cut-down-trees kind of saw.

(Disclaimer: NOT a good idea. Just sayin'.)

If you use molding and find rosettes for the corners, you don't have to worry about cutting corners:

The iron pieces have been in the middle forEVER now, but for the past year or so, it's calling out for something different. I'm thinking a huge stencil? Maybe? Ideas?
Do you have a home with big ceilings? Do you love them or hate them? Although they have been a struggle...I do love our open concept. It has made me get creative with my decorating, which is never usually not a bad idea!

P.S. I have a few more changes to make and then I'll show you the molding project I worked on over the weekend! Wooeee!