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Lighting Design Dilemma Bedroom

Help me with my weird Master Bedroom

4 years ago

Our rowhouse was renovated in the 80's. We've updated every room except our master bedroom. The original house had a walk-up attic with ceilings highest at the front of the house (above the master bedroom) that sloped steeply toward the rear of the home. The previous owner blew out the master bedroom ceiling to expose the high attic ceiling, and left a "loft" ledge. You have to climb up a fixed ladder to get up to the loft, and it's not high enough to stand - you have to stoop over. We just use it for storage.

The loft is weird but we've lived with it this long and aren't sure we want to do any major renovations at this point. However, we do want to fix the lighting situation as much we can without doing too much work. You see, there are two ugly can lights above the (former attic) dormer windows but there is no other overhead lighting. We have bedside lamps but they don't provide enough light at night. I was thinking about installing a fan on the lower ceiling and a few can lights, but I'm not sure about placement. I also wonder, should we take out the can lights in the dormer window?

I've attached some pictures to show the loft and ceiling as best i can. It's such a weird space. I wonder what to do with it. Is there a simple lighting solution?

As an aside, how would you deal with this space (both simple solutions and more major solutions)?

Featured Answer

lizziesma

4 years ago

Well, maybe a wider view would help?

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Comments (8)

Stephanie D
Original Author
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
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Stephanie D
Original Author
4 years ago
I'm having a lot of trouble posting the pics. :/
suezbell
4 years ago
What is the ceiling height beneath the loft? It being over the door, it appears to be about 7'.

Is the actual loft, as it appears, about 4'x8' or is it larger?

Are you having issues with heat rising and difficulty keeping the bedroom warm ?

Is the loft framing a part of the roof framing? Could you remove it entirely and have a higher ceiling from which you could install a ceiling fan w/o issue?
Stephanie D thanked suezbell
Stephanie D
Original Author
4 years ago
Stephanie D
Original Author
4 years ago
Stephanie D
Original Author
4 years ago
Suezbell, I am sorry the pictures really don't show a good picture of the room/ceiling. The ceiling under the loft just over 8 feet. The room is about 16 feet wide (side to side) and 12 feet long (from windows to bathroom/hall wall. The loft is the entire width of the room (16 feet) and 7 feet long. So there is about 5 feet in room (window wall) that is vaulted. Does that make sense?

Yes, we have a lot of issues keeping this room cool in the summer and warm in the winter. We thought about taking out the loft altogether, but we want to keep the possibility of closing it up and making it a utility room in a few years if we end up staying in this house (we need a place to put a relocated HVAC and water heater) and doing a big renovation.
Stephanie D
Original Author
4 years ago
Right now we are just thinking about taking out the loft fan, adding a fan to the bedroom ceiling, adding 2-4 can lights to the bedroom ceiling. Should we also take out the can lights in the dormer windows? Or replace them with better looking can lights?

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