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.

what size is the billiard table? you need about 1.5 m all around the table free of other furniture for using the pool cues but the bar area will mean that the table is pushed to one end of the room so the ceiling feature could be over the table or cover the whole room with a border all around ..usually depends on budget but instead of a tray ceiling what about a raked ceiling with a gable roof instead of the hip roof

I would prefer to see both ceilings matched with shiplap, to help tie the space, we all tend to look up. This would also mean that the wall between both rooms can be removed and therefore make the room appear bigger, as the height of the ceilings in each room will make them appear smaller if the wall isn't removed

How long is a piece of string ? You are renovating . Is it period correct , or updated ? is it 'workers' style still or are you going luxe ? Me , I'd probably go for something rattan and gold but that mightn't suit your style . But as Kate says , is there enough height ? I just googled , and you can get a round slim 'thing' that has an LED ring of lights around the outside , and looks like 30 or 40 'knive blades' that rotates , says it is 11 cm height , but it looks 'different' ( like say a UFO ! ) so may not suit your style , and each knife blade is only 40-50mm wide , so how effective it is I'd have no idea .