House Tour - 2nd Floor/Emma's Bedroom

Since our house is a story and a half with only 2 bedrooms on the main floor, we designated the entire second floor as Emma's bedroom.  We thought it would be a great place to keep the majority of the toys so we wouldn't be tripping over them on the main floor.  Most of the time that works, but occasionally the toys get drug down the stairs and we have to fill up some laundry baskets to get them all back upstairs.  Do any other parents out there wonder where in the heck all these toys come from??

Her bedroom has the most potential of any of the spaces in our house.  We feel like there are a million different directions we could go when it's time to remodel it, so we are trying to take our time and live with it for awhile until we can decide how we want it to function when it's done.

The entrance to her bedroom is in our dining room.  I would love to replace the white door with a French door and remove the carpet from the stairs and have oak treads to match the dining room.

This is what it looks like at the top of Emma's staircase.  You turn to the left, don't turn right, you'll hit your head!  The knee walls are just under 4 feet tall so you have to duck as you get closer to the sides of the room.

Here's the view at the top of the staircase.  There is a strange little space to the left that we don't know what to do with.  Right now the kids just use it as a hiding spot.  I've thought about creating a ledge over there but I'm afraid Owen would turn it into his perch and jump.

This picture gives you an idea of the size of this room.  It is around 400 sq. ft.  My renovation plans include the following:

   *Remove the closet and relocate to the dormer

   *Add a 3/4 bath (?)

   *Add built-ins in the knee walls

   *Make a cozy nook for a king size bed 

   *Replace carpet - I would love hardwood floors but it will be impossible to match the main floor

   *Add additional lighting

   *Tongue and groove ceiling (?)

That is a walk in closet on the left.  I'm planning to relocate the closet so this area of the room can be opened up further.  A chimney will likely remain that we will need to work around though.  After renovations, I may move the bed to this area behind the stairs.

There is additional closet space to the right that you cannot see in the photo.

That is a plumbing pipe on the far side of the bed.  If we were to add a bathroom up here, it would likely need to be located in this area of the room.  We haven't decided if an added bathroom would make sense for our house.  Yes, it would be amazing to have a bathroom up here, but we know adding a bath will be a minimum of $2,000.

I sort of envision this end of the room as a future little family/sitting area with a couch and a tv.  But if we add a bathroom at this end, it will chop the room up....ahhhh!!!  So many decisions!

We put together a little built in desk area for Emma so she has a place to work on her art projects.  Sometimes it's nice for her to have a quiet place to go, away from her brother.  I think we can all relate to that!

The picture below is the view from Emma's bed.  It is almost another room over in that dormer.  It is about 10x11 but the ceiling is a little bit lower.  Her bed actually fits perfectly in there, with a side table on each side but you have to be careful getting in and out of bed or you'll scrape your head on the ceiling.

I'm thinking about turning this space into a walk in closet with built in shelving on both sides and a mirror on the back wall.

If anyone has any great ideas for how to layout this room...I'd love to hear them!  The whole thing is a little overwhelming because it is so big, almost too big for a bedroom but too small to split up into smaller rooms.