The master suite was quite large (around 800 square feet) and on three levels, including a fireplace hearth level along two walls, before the remodel. According to papers we found with the house, it included a "liberated bathroom." Don't worry, we had to Google that too. There were few walls between the bed and bathroom and no doors. The main feature: a 300 gallon tiled soaking tub made of solid poured concrete abutting the carpeted bedroom framed by two walls covered in six foot tall mirrors. A small shower was behind one of the mirrored walls and open to the floor to ceiling windows facing east. Near the large windows was a raised seating area with tile-covered 4 inch thick poured concrete and chicken wire floor. The bathroom's single sink and make-up counter were in the corner of the third level of the room with even more large mirrors, the toilet, and some of the closet space. Looking at this huge amount of space, we could see the opportunity to use it more efficiently to build an office and a master suite with a large shower and sweet master closet.
Weeks of measuring, drawing, and discussing led to our final plans of adding a wall halfway into the room to make an office between the bedroom and atrium area of the house. We hoped that in demolition we would be able to get all of the office and bedroom on the same level and add steps up to the door to the deck and bathroom with entry into the closet from the bathroom. With ideas in mind, we were ready to start demolition!
This bigger space necessitated a bigger crew: my dad, Ted, Ari and I demolished everything we could handle. It took us a little over a week, two dump trailers totaling over 11,000 pounds (500 pounds in mirrors alone), and tools ranging from small sledgehammers and crowbars to a 60 pound electric jackhammer to bring this space down to the studs.
We were able to create a new office space between the atrium and master bedroom by taking out the old wood fireplace and eliminating the stepped up tile hearth than ran the length of the room to the tub. Taking out the old wood-burning fireplace also created space for some awesome built-in shelving. We were able to brighten up the new office by adding a high window on the south-facing wall of the room. Looking forward to moving desks in and using this new office for working from home!
Our new bathroom is absolutely stunning: a big shower with "mermaid"
tile accent, a carbonized bamboo vanity with double sinks, a fantastic
closet space with custom built-in storage, and best of all: a door! While our bedroom is smaller than the original, gigantic old one, having a new office is totally worth it! One thing we didn't change were the great views off the bluff to the east.
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