@Neryl, you cracked me up when I read your post ha-ha @lakshmi17, All jokes aside, if you want to go to the trouble of having beautiful pendant lights and your ceiling is so high, get a professional!!! Save up if you have to but it's the best way to go in this case, you might be surprised that it's not as expensive as the cost of the lights you intend to have fitted. I paid over $130 for each of the three lights I have bought to have installed over my dining table and I'm darn sure my electrician won't be charging me $400 to install them!!!

It would look odd with just a curtain rod across the void. You could get a pelmet made, or fill the void above the curtain with a shelf or cupboards though this will involve a little disruption. I would avoid plastering too as it is a messy process that takes more than one day and needs painting too. You may still want blinds on the windows for light control but soften the whole look with side drapes as you asked for. Shutters could also work either way but they are pricey.

There must be like over a thousand ways to do this. Get 4 lengths of metal tubing. You can get this in chrome and in various shapes and sizes. Put in 4 ceiling hooks, space them based on length of tubing. Feed rope through tubing and tie off. Use a rope colour that is the same as the tubing. Hang your newly created rail / frame using heavy duty fishing wire at points where rope is exposed. Finally Place mosquito net that has a top cover over the frame that is hanging from your ceiling.

First of all. Family portraits? Old Masters? Snaps of people at Birthday parties, small children? Black and white or colour? What kind of frames are they in? Are you prepared to spend money on the display? Are you trying to hide them or make a feature of them? I personally hate family photos scattered about! Besides the light damaging them, there’s the family pecking order which always exists. Who gets the best spot? My solution used to be the back of the toilet door when the kids were small. I cut them all out and assembled a collage, but with age they grew yellow and faded. Now I have a large photo which my 3 kids had done for me as a Mother’s Day gift just after they left home. It’s in a plain black and silver frame and it’s in black and white. It’s right opposite my bedroom door in the hallway. If you are a visitor, unless you visit the loo you would not see it, and even then its probably not that noticeable. I think we need more information to help you.