Design Confidently, Live Comfortably
 
A loft is characterized by wide-open space in a big box of a building. Artists developed loft-living out of necessity: Thousands of factories and multistory warehouses in cities across the country were abandoned during the 1950s and '60s as transportation switched from urban railroads to suburban or semirural interstate highways.
Artists could rent studio space cheaply in these otherwise abandoned buildings, and to save even more money, they often wound up living in their studios, cobbling together the plumbing for kitchens and bathrooms. What we now think of as loft-living combines tall ceilings, open space, exposed building materials, and lots of big windows. Like the layout of a loft, the plan for Bruce and Sara’s house is simple. The kitchen, dining room, and living spaces are all in one big open room with gently sloping ceilings 12 feet high at their peak. This space flows out onto a screened porch and then to a deck that cantilevers out over the ridge.
Half a flight up from the living space is Bruce and Sara’s bedroom with a bath, dressing room, and a small retreat we called the cozy room. Half a flight down is a two-stall garage and a mudroom. In the basement is a guest bedroom with tall windows, Bruce’s music studio, and a type of room I’d never designed before: a climate-controlled storage closet for Bruce’s bass fiddles. NEXT: Simple Plans for a Tight Budget BACK: Introduction |
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PHOTOS: JOHN GRUEN |
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