Master Bedroom: Then & Now
Today I thought I would share part of my house that I haven't shared before, my master bedroom. When I bought my house it had six bedrooms. It sounds great but they were all tiny rooms and the layout was really awkward. In the back of the upstairs I reconfigured a 10'x10' room, a small bathroom and an awkward space to make a large master bathroom and a 13'x13' room which I now use as a craft room. In the front of the upstairs I decided to combine two small bedrooms to create my master bedroom. I was happy to lose a bedroom and turn my home into a five bedroom house if it meant I would have a decent size bedroom.
The two small bedrooms were a hot mess: holes in the walls, no insulation, no electrical outlets (?!?) and the light switches for the lights were outside the rooms in the hall for some odd reason. On top of that the rooms were absolutely filthy and the room with carpet had a bunch of disgusting stains. Here are a few pictures of the rooms back when I bought my house.
All the walls had to be gutted to the studs in order to add insulation and electrical because besides needing to bring the house up to code I like to be warm and plug things in. I started reconfiguring the floor plan by removing the wall between the rooms. To open things up the old ceilings were removed to expose the old attic area and I had the resulting vaulted ceiling finished and had beams added to keep the house from spreading. The space above the bathroom was then turned into a loft space overlooking the master bedroom. To bring the house up to code, I had to replace one of the windows with a larger window that met egress in case of a fire. To say it was a challenge to get it approved my the historic district committee is an understatement.
I also readjusted the closet situation. Because the house is over a hundred years old none of the rooms originally had closets so they were just oddly added in at a later date. In one of the rooms a closet had been built out over the stairway. Not only was it super awkward, but it also was not up to code since it reduced the headroom on the stairs to less than the state minimum. Because of this the closet had to go but I saved the old five panel hardwood door, of course.
The other closet in the upstairs was off of a room that I think may have been a kitchen, that I turned into my master bathroom. Since the second bedroom door was eliminated (again, I kept the old door) I had room to expand the closet. I then added another door to the closet so that I could enter it from my master bedroom as well as my bathroom. It makes for a nice little pass through.
Here is how my master bedroom looks today. There are a lot of things that I still would like to do and I am not sure that I am sold on the way I have the furniture arranged but I like having a lot of space.
Over my bed is a three panel hand carved wood plaque that I brought back from Thailand. I love the detail on it. My bedspread is from Target and the pillows are from a variety of places but the brown one with the teal is special to me since it is hand appliquéd and I purchased it at the Night Market in Luang Prabang, Laos.
Both of my dressers are from my great-grandmother's bedroom set that I inherited. I think they were built in the 1930s and they definitely need some TLC but I love having a little part of her in my room.
Over the tall dresser I have hung a reproduction poster that I bought in Sevilla, Spain and I have some Japanese glass fishing floats, an antique Japanese abacus and a glass jar full of sea glass from Panama sitting on top.
In the corner I have my TV which Frank finds incredibly embarrassing since it is so old. It is about as deep as it is wide and is a TV/VCR combo. I bought it used back in grad school and it seems fine to me! I bought the little cabinet that the TV sits on at a flea market in Kyoto when I was living in Japan.
The poster between the doors is from a play in college where I was the lighting designer. I also have a desk sitting on the back wall that I bought at the Ann Arbor ReUse Center awhile back for $20. I need to refinish it but haven't had a chance yet. The lamp is another item from my great grand mother and used to sit on her desk.
My favorite part about my room is the vaulted ceiling and my ceiling fan. I searched around a lot for just the right fan. Since my house is old a modern fan would look strange so I really wanted something that looked period and had four blades like early ceiling fans did. I looked high and low and then found this fan that is a reproduction of the original Westinghouse ceiling fan design. I love it!
So there you have it, my master bedroom as it stands right now. There are so many more things that I want to do in there but I just need to remind myself that these things take time...
Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 8:55AM | Posted by Lisa | 6 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article 
Reader Comments (6)
Lisa what a beautiful room, with lots of wonderful natural light. I really like the 3 panel wood craving over your bed - what a great piece of art. So nice to have your Great-Grandmother represented in her beautiful furniture. They do not look as though they need much TLC. Do you use the loft area for anything? Our master bedroom is also a work in progress - still looking for something to go on the wall behind the bed but at least I have the shade of green paint that I know I can live with for a long time. The best ornament in our room is the kitty sleeping on the bed :)
Mary-Lou- Thank you! The dressers look fine from afar but have some scratches and dings in them that reflect their age. I don't use the loft right now but I'm sure that I'll come up with a plan for it someday. It just seemed like it would be cooler to make the space over the bathroom a loft instead of closing it off as an attic. Picking paint can be tough. Congratulations on finding a shade for your master bedroom that you like!
Love it love it! Tell Frank to lighten up. I have a tv just like that in my craft room.
Also, I hope you moved into that house in the summer. Otherwise you would have been frozen.
Wow Lisa, my mind is officially blown. What a beautiful job you did on your master. Love the color and love the way you opened up the ceiling. And I think the television is fine. If it's not broke, why fix it!
Kathy- Thank you! Frank likes to tease me about my lack of technology. I moved into my house at the end of September just in time for it to get cold. Most of the house was being renovated so I lived in one room (what is now my guest bedroom) and used a space heater.
Liza- Thank you so much! I love the open ceiling, too, and it is one of my favorite things in my house. I have rope lighting over the beams so at night with those lights on the ceiling looks really neat.
It will be necessary to create a custom fitted wardrobe in the bedroom, as it will help getting rid of the worries of the keeping the clothes on hangers, so that they remain crumble-free and ready to wear.