Knocking down interior non-load bearing walls, Pictures and Questions...

[DKAudio]

I am turning our 3rd bedroom into the dinning room. The first picture is looking in the now dinning room into the back side of the kitchen. You can see I tore most of the old wall out and turned it into a half wall the will over look the stairs.



This is a picture looking the other way (into the now dinning room from the back side of the kitchen). I also want to tear the opening on the other side going into the hallway. I am planning on doing it all the way to the ceiling and about to the left edge of the clock.



This picture is looking from the hallway into the dinning room (the wall I explained above I want to take down). Wanted to take a picture of the ceiling to get a better view.



This is in the same hallway only looking at the floor for detail.





Now my questions...

-In the first picture you can see the dinning room has texture and the ceiling I am finishing over the stairs and kitchen do not, it is smooth. I understand the best would be to make the texture match the dinning room or scrape the dinning room and hallway and make it smooth to match the kitchen. I was wondering if anyone had an easier/better idea? If I do some sort of thresh-hold/barrier it would have to be at least 4.5" thick on the hallway side (framing and sheetrock thickness).
-My next question is similar only pertaining to the floor, again, the thresh-hold would have to be at least 4.5" thick. My floors are real oak hardwood. I just finished a new laminate floor in the kitchen so on that side it would only have to be about 3" thick. I went as far as possible with the amount of laminate I had.

[HayZee518]

so there's a step between the two floors?

[DKAudio]

No, they are all on the same level. The stairs are going down to the basement.

[HayZee518]

so find a piece of oak at least the 4.5 or 5 inches wide and plane it so it angles away from center and nail that between the two rooms. the angles are up top and its flat on the bottom.

[DKAudio]

That is what I was thinking too. Any ideas on the ceiling?

[DKAudio]

Anyone?

What if I used a piece of cheap pine, same width as my floor threshold and painted it white (1X6 left square)? I am worried that will look really cheap.

On the kitchen side where the texture ceiling meets the smooth ceiling...some sort of trim piece painted white?

Any ideas?

Thanks

[HayZee518]

just use the existing sheetrock surface and feather out the texture so it meets the smooth -or- consider popcorning the smooth, or even a shallow texture on the smooth ceiling.

[DKAudio]

My concern is if I try and spray it that I will never be able to match the exsisting texture. Therefore, you will be able to see a distinct line in the ceiling.

[HayZee518]

there is a popcorn finish in an aerosol can. for patch work. this mis-match will always be bugging you even after the project is finished. texturing one finish into a smooth surface is possible like feathering out a sheetrock joint - do it gradually. use sheetrock mud and a sponge or whatever they used for the texture.

[DKAudio]

ok, I'll give it a try.