Painting Art Deco Ornate Plaster Ceiling

After 6 months of work, we've managed to sell our 5-bed house on the Central Coast and are looking for an apartment in Sydney.

My partner and I have a fortunate choice between two apartments in '30s art-deco blocks.

Option 1
Is a 1 bed 75sq M renovated flat with (newish) galley kitchen and (restored) bathroom and great views over Sydney harbour that needs no work.

Option 2
Is an unrestored 150sq M penthouse flat with 3 (smallish) bedrooms, decent living room, small bathroom, reasonable kitchen and views of both Sydney harbour and the bridge from the balcony.

The downside is it has ornate plater ceilings in all rooms all of which have peeling paint (see photo below).

The plan is to knock 2 bedrooms together and steal some of this additional space to create a shower recess for the bathroom and a wardrobe/store area. Also knock down the dividing wall between the bedroom passageway and the living room to create more space/light. It also needs a new kitchen and bathroom. All of the above while retaining some of the better period features.

We've had a quote for the whole job of AU$150K (including re-plumbing and re-wiring) which we think is on the high side - especially as the builder just wanted to put a false ceiling in all rooms (much easier for him than stripping the ceiling, I'd suggest).

See plans and photos below

Painting Questions:
1. What are the options for successfully stripping the old paint from the plaster without damaging it.
2. Is it a DIY job or should we get in an expert

Non-Painting Questions:
3. Given that the ceiling is lath and plaster, is it possible to put halogen downlights through it without creating too much damage?

I have to persuade my partner that option 2 is a good idea and that we can survive the mess involved :-)

Thanks in advance

Paul

Photos and plans

Ceiling Photo
http://www.softmarksolutions.com/img/ceiling_25.jpg

Ceiling Detail
http://www.softmarksolutions.com/img/ceiling_detail.jpgExisting layout (NOT TO SCALE)
http://www.softmarksolutions.com/img/plan.jpg
Modified layout (NOT TO SCALE)
http://www.softmarksolutions.com/img/plan_new.jpg


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