Three reno posts in three days! I can’t believe it either. It’s all I’ve been thinking about lately.
The upstairs was the hardest part of re-imagining our living space. I have always had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted the downstairs to look like but my ideas petered out as soon as I reached the bottom riser of the stairs.
The upper floor has challenged us since day one. Our home is not a full two-storey construction; it’s a half-storey up there, with lots of sloped ceilings. They’re pretty and charming – and they add a lot to the cosy feeling of our house – but they also seriously limit the amount usable wall space we have up there. And CHARMING gets tossed out the window once you realize that it’s impossible to put up shelves or hang artwork. (Just kidding. I like the charming. But I also like bookshelves.)
Here’s what the last version of this floorplan looked like. We tussled with it for awhile and eventually realized that we weren’t using the space as efficiently as we should be.
I am much happier with this new version. (Click the floor plan image to view an enlarged version of what we’re currently considering.)
Sidebar: I feel slightly sorry for our architect. He really is a big ol’ sweetie, but I have a tiny feeling that he thinks I’m a wee bit of a nutcase. I’m sure he’s tired of me crowing about the family bathroom already.
Speaking of which, I am really liking the upstairs bathroom now. I’m excited about a walk-in shower that’s tucked away like that, the double vanity, the enclosed toilet… I think it will really work for our family. I envision lots of mirrors and light and white tiles. This space needs to be superbright (but with a dimmer, I love dimmers in bathrooms!). The best thing about this plan is that there can be three (or more) people in there at the same time and they all have a degree of privacy. Yay! Related: we poked our heads into the plumbing and bathroom showroom at Preston Hardware the other day. Oi. Beautiful things in there eh? Sigh.
Master bedroom
It’s a little bigger now, and Mark gets his own li’l closet. Sadly, my dream window seat has been dropped from the plan. Boo.
Bedroom #2 (Emma’s future bedroom)
This is currently our bedroom. It’ll be a perfect size for Emma. She’s hankering for a loft bed but I’m aiming for something that looks like this.
Bedroom #3 (Sarah’s room)
See the tiny nook there, on this side of the wall from the bathtub? Mark wants to round out that corner and create a little reading area under the window. I think this is a sweet little room, but I do have a concern about the closet. It was designed his way to utilize part of the sloped ceiling. It wouldn’t be a floor to ceiling closet exactly. It would be high enough to meet the top of the slope, and it would be deep enough to accommodate shelving in the back of it. I’m still not convinced this will work and/or look good. What do you think? I’d love to hear your ideas. Personally, I’m inclined to keep a bit of the sloped ceiling (it’s a good place to put a bed) and create a different kind of closet for Sarah in that corner, maybe using the space deemed “storage” on the other side of the wall? Ack. Clearly, this is why I’m not an architect.
Anyway, yes! I feel like we’re on our way finally. And it feels pretty darn good.
