In my opinion (which is the only one that counts), it turned out better than I had expected. There's still the issue of what to do with the loft. That'll be the subject of another thread for another day. Enjoy, and thank you for all of your encouragement.

(You'll see that I painted the ceiling off white (MAB Luxe Low Lustre custom matched), the trim a high gloss off white to match the rest of the trim from my first floor (a BM custom match in the Alkyd variety), and the walls red (Pratt & Lambert China Closet Red in Velvet finish (historic Williamsburg color. I also changed the bed orientation, changed the bed linens, removed the extra slats from the blinds, removed the bump out from the loft area (PITA), added a Library wall sconce from the Restoration Hardware outlet here in vintage brass, and changed shades to get matching ones from Restoration Hardware outlet (European Drum Shades in Goldenrod).)

I'll take some photos in the daylight. The day escaped me. I was working on the damn thing from 9:15 until 4:30.

My dd is looking for a new duvet cover. Would you share where you got yours with that lovely scalloped edge from? Thanks!

Perhaps consider adding a small but sturdy (LOL! -- that would be a plus for me!) stool under the new lamp for folks to put on shoes etc.?

Really magazine worthy room! :)

Thanks everyone. I'm thinking of having my contractor put book shelves in the loft area above the bed. Or plantation shutters. I'm leaning toward the shelves but with a back. The reason for that is that I want to cut open the floor on the loft (but so that it could be put back) so that my walk in closet which is beneath it can make use of the skylight and pot lights and, at the same time use the remaining loft floor for storage. Hard for you to envision, but it makes sense if you know the space.

I only wish my energy was at your level. Hang on to it, plus your eye for beauty. What a wonderful home filled with love and comfort.

And here is the chopped off loft and a picture of the ceiling in my walk in closet to show you what I mean. I want to just cut through the cedar floor boards in between the two beams, which will give me additional shelving above both sides of the closet and also give me direct access to the skylight and pot lights above the loft. In order to block of the storage I would gain from sight in the bedroom, however, I would need to erect something just above the canopy bed. As I said, I was thinking either book shelves or plantation shutters. I don't want it to be a permanent solution because some day, someone else may want to use this loft.

Will you do something to protect your clothes from fading once you open up the skylight?

I have not seen that before.

If you add bookshelves or doors to the nook, it will make the room seem a lot smaller. What about building storage just across the back wall of the loft (maybe shelves with doors) then leaving the area from the skylight forward open to the bedroom?

Or, add the storage to the back wall with the opening to the closet below, then put a wall of frosted or "white" glass between the skylight and the front of the loft. You could then use the remaining ledge as a sculpture nook, backlit by the skylight/frosted glass. This would allow the skylight to light both spaces and give the appearance of more space in the bedroom.

I went to Ikea today and bought 30" x 24" wide antique white cabinets with glass shelves. I'm going to put those in the loft and have my contractor trim out the opening with modest trim. With that color matching the rest of the trim and the glass shelves, I think it'll keep it very open, and it'll fit perfectly. And only $100 for the materials. The room really doesn't need any more light. It's very bright during the day as you can see.

I have made a number of Realtors kinda nervous falling down stairs like these during showings, but you can't hurt yourself very easily, they are so small you just kinda slide down.

I'm sticking with the cabinets because they match, they're practical, and they won't look like an afterthought once trimmed out. Plus, the room doesn't need any more light, and I'm a fairly basic person, not inclined for the bling factor that would come with stained glass (particularly in a house that wouldn't have had it to begin with). But I totally understand the recommendation!

What do you think so far (they still need to be trimmed out around the sides and with crown I have left over from my kitchen remodel, and I still need to add the glass shelves)?

Your space is still beautiful!

These houses take on a kind of organic growth, and the idiosyncrasies that result are just part of the whole charm. The original house would not have had skylights or various other details (including a kitchen or bathroom at all), so the additive quality is natural. If the other millwork is banged up on the edges, I would distress the new trim work a bit too.

I guess what I am trying to say is that in a newer house, I might not solve the issue this way, I would continue the wall up, or whatever I put there would have to align perfectly align with the transom, etc. Here, I think it just generally adds to the charm of the room. The original owners would have put storage where they could get it too. I have seen lots of little cubbies or cabinets tucked at the top of the stairs in such houses.

It's much better than the projecting piece was, in any case.

The shelves are lovely, functional, and an immense improvement.

If you really hate the shelves or have some other idea, I'm still all ears.

I completely understand why my suggestion wouldn't work for you. It sounds like you've found something that works.

You truly do have a lovely space.

With flash:

But these houses are masonry construction, and if the earth moved enough to knock things off shelves, the entire fa�ade of the house would probably fall off, anyway. It only has strength in compression, nothing for tension or shear.

When my gable end, which is two layers of brick and nothing else, (some of the brick essentially powder) survived the big tremor (for us) a couple years ago I figured I would also not get knocked out by something falling off the wall. Unless the wall fell down first.

I would much rather see one simple panel to block your closet off, and then between one and three large objects with presence. Very simple.

The first thing I thought of when I saw your loft was this object that's over a cupboard at Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House, home of one of America's first interior designers in Gloucester, MA.

I do love that bed. :)

If you need the storage for storage, I would use it all for books or put decorative boxes there with things stored in them, not inviting individual examination.

The benefit with doing that is that I'd have immense storage in the closet and it would be easier for a prospective buyer to visualize making that closet a small bathroom. (I'm not too worried about prospective buyers because I have no intention of leaving any time soon.)

So, what is the purpose of it? Is it something that people would still really use it as today?

If I were you I would go by Your preference, drywall it up repurpose those shelves facing the other way, and be done with it. The shelves would work, I've seen that variation, but only if you want it or need it to be accessible to the bedroom would I do it that way.

The Imari bottle coolers were something like $8000., so I think the drywall would be cheaper and neighbors be damned :)

I'm certainly not spending hundreds (let alone thousands) on pottery that would be seen only a handful of times per year.

As to what the hell it was used for...who knows. The people who owned this place were bizarre. I could certainly imagine a kid sleeping up there on a twin mattress, but there's only 26" of clearance, so it's tough to get into and out of there.

I would button it up on the bedroom side with drywall and go in through the ceiling of the closet. That height and access from inside the closet seems much more logical than preserving it as a slot accessible from the bedroom.

Sometimes neighbors have bad ideas.

The room and furniture are so wonderfully traditional, adding 3-4 drapery panels on the wall between the windows, and one on the ends, drawing them back would have been an easier fix, w/more room for the nightstands. The bed would have become an obvious, and lovely focal point, instead of just a bed in a room. Sorry about my blunt honesty, but my visualization gets in the way.

How would putting drapes on the window wall physically enlarge the room to make "more room for the nightstands" (and I only have one nightstand)? If you looked at the pictures, you'd see that there is a door to the stair landing (limiting wall space on that wall), two windows along a wall that is very low because of the ceiling's pitch (no furniture can go there), another wall on which there is a closet with a door (that cannot accommodate a bed because it's both too narrow and in front of the door to the stair landing), and another corner that is the only set of wall space that can accommodate the bed. If your point is that the bed is too tall for the space, I suppose I understand. If your point is that the nightstand is too close to the door, you're right, but so what? If your point is that you preferred the bed oriented the other way so that there was space on either side of the bed (but little room at the foot of the bed, far too little room to walk around the bed on the sides, and no room at all above the canopy), I suppose I understand (although there's a much easier and less "blunt honesty"-framed way to state that basic point.

Do you want to try again so that I can figure out what you're really trying to say?

Anyway. Close that up, then it's on to a wee bit of wall art and a touch more fabric. Not much. I'd be idly curious to see what that lace netting canopy you found looks like on the bed, just for s's and g's.

If only I didn't hate painting so much...

The room and furniture are so wonderfully traditional, adding 3-4 drapery panels on the wall between the windows, and one on the ends, drawing them back would have been an easier fix, w/more room for the nightstands. The bed would have become an obvious, and lovely focal point, instead of just a bed in a room. Sorry about my blunt honesty, but my visualization gets in the way.

The room and furniture are so wonderfully traditional, adding 3-4 drapery panels on the wall between the windows, and one on the ends, drawing them back would have been an easier fix, w/more room for the nightstands. The bed would have become an obvious, and lovely focal point, instead of just a bed in a room. Sorry about my blunt honesty, but my visualization gets in the way.

It was like a client I have who wanted to buy a terribly constructed house she was renting because the owners were going to sell it. Her only reason for wanting to buy it was she hated moving.

Rip off the bandaid and move on.

Let's not get all high and mighty about your "gifts." Comments like those are why people wouldn't feel comfortable asking questions on this forum in the first place. I've not experienced it from anyone else. Perhaps they lack your "gifts."

I probably missed it way back but what was the purpose of the big curved projection you removed?

My 'gift' is something i've given to myself, no explanation needed on that either. As to whether or not it would prevent someone from posting, that's your *opinion* not a fact.

Why didn't you just use a wood, sleighbed-style daybed? You could have created a beautiful fabric canopy w/o all the aggravation you seem to be going thru, not to mention the extra work you've made for yourself. Sorry Kevin, just keeping it real.