Cloudyhaze....I think all of the options look good, but it just depends on the look you personally wish to have for your house, because painting the ceiling white will COMPLETELY change the look. My sister has just bought a place that had brick walls and exposed ceilings that had the beams painted mission brown and the ceiling was in some form of raw chipboard type material. She wanted to brighten the place up before she moved in and got it all painted white. It looks beautiful, but I personally would have thought of other options before painting the brick etc. She got a quote for plastering (sheeting) the sections in between the exposed ceiling beams and it was a lot more expensive than painting. If you are keen to paint just the panelling in the ceiling, then I would get additional quotes. I am no painter but I would suspect if it has shellac on it, it will just need an initial sealer on it, before putting on the 2 coats of flat ceiling paint. I think all of the options will look beautiful, because the high ceilings are the feature.........it just depends on whether you are going for a more rustic look, mid-century look , more modern look...I am not sure of what all the designs are called. Good Luck. Your house is gorgeous. My sister lives on Gold Coast BTW.

Have a look at Glosswood. We have used it extensively at our house, and had been up for years and still looks brand new. Can get it from Bunnings but best to deal with the local distributor. Manufactured in WA I recall. I love the look of plywood, but not everyones taste or style.

What Dr Retro says above. The short answer is it would be rare to use the same paint throughout as you’re dealing with a number of different surfaces & end uses. Paints are designed for each specific application. Ceilings: use matt ceiling white, or if you want a coloured ceiling, tinted ceiling white. If you‘re doing a ceiling feature a satin finish could be used as long as the ceiling’s in good condition. If the ceiling’s in average condition some professional painters use an oil based undercoat instead of water based ceiling white. Walls: use water based satin finish, some brands call it low sheen. Walls in wet areas: depends how good your ventilation systems are in these rooms, sometimes worthwhile to use the lowest level of gloss paint (water based semi gloss) but as Dr Retro said above the higher the level of gloss the better condition your walls need to be in. If you have areas of new plasterwork, or cracks & holes that have been filled, apply a sealer binder over these areas before top coats, or the plaster patching will show through your top coats as it takes up the paint differently from the non plastered surfaces. On new woodwork use an undercoat then your preferred gloss level ie. semi gloss, gloss, or high gloss only where the surfaces are perfect (very rare). Some paints are promoted as primer/undercoat/topcoat all in one. I’ve found the finish is better using undercoat, then top coat, but that’s my personal preference. On existing/already painted woodwork: use undercoat on any filling/patching, then same topcoats as for new woodwork. If the existing colour is dark & you’re going to a light colour undercoat is recommended, or many top coats will be required to cover the dark original colour. Bare wood with a high tannin content is best sealed to avoid tannins bleeding through to your topcoats.

What height window and doors are you proposing. If 3 metre ceilings then 2400 doors and windows would look better. This will then add extra cost for window treatments. Also in the kitchen, with a 3 metre ceiling, where would you stop your overhead cabinets, would you have them to the ceiling? Or standard height? I personally would do your pitched ceiling in living area, and 2700mm everywhere else. This will add extra interest with the change of ceiling height. 2700mm are a good height.