Upstairs Master Bedroom

When we first saw the house, it reminded me of an old Cape Cod. Capes are simple structures, often with half-stories, and often found with large shed or gabled dormers. Having lived in Maine for over a decade, and having lived in a Cape the entire time, I quickly saw the potential for the upstairs half-story.

Shed dormers have flat roof lines and offer more ceiling height than a gabled dormer. I knew that by adding such a dormer to our half-story space, we could really transform the upstairs into a really wonderful master bedroom. The half story was plenty long, had a back ell extending off from it (which would become the future walk-in closet) and with only two bedrooms downstairs, it would really add to the spaciousness of the home.

Here are a few pictures of the upstairs before the dormer addition.

Before...

As you can see, the stairwell going upstairs was quite dark.



As you come up into the half-story, you can see that there is very little light. There's just one window at each gabled end and one small window at the end of the back ell. The window you see in this picture is the window to our future master bath. The large open room in the foreground is our future master bedroom. Walk-in closet is off to the right.



This is looking towards the east end of the house. The proposed dormer will be going in on the right side of this photo - the south side of the house. Notice the limited floor space on right side of stairwell. Also, the window you see in this picture will be the window in our future home office.



This is after they took the ridge of the roof line out to make room for new support beam.



Once the beam was in, the roof was removed to install shed dormer. This is me taking the first swing.



They moved fast as it was their goal to get the dormer up in one day.


Stairs are illuminated.



Dormer framing up! Look at all the extra floor space and ceiling height!



New Marvin windows. We put six, six over one double-hungs in new dormer.



Over the course of the next several weeks, came insulation, electrical, drywall and paint.

After...

This is looking towards the east end. New dormer is opening to the south.

The half-story is now full of light.

I was thrilled that this old Empire dresser from my Great Great Grandparents fit here! It matches the larger one on the other side of the room.



Cute rounded door and door frame to walk-in closet. This is on the north side of the room.



This is looking towards the stairwell, which is the original stairwell. We spruced it up with a nice railing and added a stairwell light fixture. Look at all the extra floor space we gained with the dormer. Before there was no room to walk on the south side of those stairs. Big difference! Door on left goes to home office.



The stairwell is narrow as most staircases were in the 20's. We were a little worried about getting this old Empire dresser upstairs but it made it up easily. This dresser came from my Grandmother's house, it was her Grandparent's dresser at one time. As I child, I use to explore every single one of these drawers. : )