Thanks for your congrats and comments guys! I would appreciate any advice about the rooms! I'll pop a pic of original kitchen so you can see. The things that stand out are probably the Ceiling Roses- those suggested lights are amazing. I would looove to get those for above the dining table. Budget might stop me though. Any suggestions for something less pricey? I have an industrial type cage cluster light I was thinking about (photo below) There is two sets of columns, maybe I could make the most of them buy painting them grey

The traditional solution is to introduce lots of soft furnishings like rugs, curtains and plush sofas. There are also padded acoustic panels that are commonly used in noisy cafes (often fitted to the ceiling) which help with cafe noise. There are also perforated plasterboard acoustic sheets, and acoustic plywood panels if are happy to do some building work. Engaging an acoustic engineer will help if you want to approach the problem scientifically. Best of luck Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

depends on how you articulate the fit-out - if you do it confidently then it may be best to maintain the higher ceilings for a greater sense of space/drama for the main living zone and a more interesting result. Bland is boring, embracing the uniqueness and owning it is more often than not a better result, but you need to do it with confidence. Since the original structure's already there, get the builder to frame the lower areas and get you in to have a look before making a call one way or the other Good luck! Cheers PD :)

I'd make sure I had probably 3 'zones' or options . It is just crying out for a big industrial style centrepiece on 3 or 4 heavy chains , maybe even with 15 or 20 candles . Just as I'm writing this , I'm even wondering how difficult it would be to get 15 shorter stubbier candles and drill out the middles , and thread a cheap 12 volt LED through each one ? The local electrical supplier charges something like $12 for 10 -- you'd have to wire them , but its low voltage so a soldering iron and heatshrink tubing would do wonders . look way more authentic than those cheesy ones with flickering 240 volt bulbs and fake melted wax on shiny plastic bases ! Anyway , that would be my centrepiece , even if you had to use a transformer etc -- drop it to the ceiling line height . Then I'd do a seperate zone -- probably single LED spotlights ( prob in black ) . at least one each beam , some pointing up , some across to the other 'slope' , but also some pointing downwards , because you'll need to look for dropped coins or handkerchiefs or phone chargers every now and then haha . And the 3rd zone would be wall uplights and downlights , because I can almost guarantee there will be times you want light , but you don't want or need to emphasis the height . If its not too late , I'd have them maybe 1.5mtrs from the floor , and the covers in an aged copper or similar panels , and that would match the style of the centrepiece light too . I'd have the spotlights a completely seperate style though -- more modern and plainer , but not ultra-modern , if that makes sense .