On the internal side of things, studs and drywall is all you will need.

On the exterior, you best bet will to contract with a good brickmason and have that exterior opening re-sized.

You are not modifying structure so you do not need to do anything but stud the wall out to the height you want and drywall it over.

Thanks w.o.w.! One of my other concerns is the brick itself. Since the house is almost 60 years old, how difficult will it be to find new brick that will match the old?

Any ideas on what is might cost for something like this? I'm as green as they come :)

I will defer to the brick mason on that one.

We undertook a similar project except we swapped a bedroom and kitchen. Originally, the bedroom was a lower narrower window and the kitchen had been over the sink and wider. When we swapped the rooms, the window openings were kept approximately the same size, just now on 2 different walls. We salvaged some brick from one opening, all old mortar was carefully chiseled off and then reused in the new location.

Depending on the brick on your house, it will most likely be tough to find an exact match. However, there are aging techniques that can be applied to new brick to improve the match. Find a historic brick mason - they should know what to do.

If you want to have custom brick made, the company to contact is Belden Brick. I've seen their work on 2 historic homes and the brick match is quite good. However, in both cases a larger quantity of brick was made. I believe they are the only company in the US that does historic brick matching.

Good luck.