I have found that it is difficult to make a junction between poles and beams look good, mainly because they don't properly connect. For example if I place a beam and a pole under it as a support there will be a 1/2 block gap between the pole and beam.

What I propose is a block that is composed of two beams at a right angle to each other (think 3/4 of a slab) and then what amounts to the bottom half of a pole under or above the corner (so 3/4 of a top and 1/4 of a bottom slab)


Like this but in miniature.