the karina

bedroom lighting

I'm not a fan of a central overhead light fixture in rooms...especially the bedroom. We have 3 switches in each upstairs bedroom. One to the outlets on either side of the bed; one to the wall sconce and the third to an outlet above the walk-in-closet. I have a string of Christmas lights up there and love the way they bounce light off the ceiling. The other thing this shelf above the closet does is make the room appear a larger. If the wall went straight up to meet the ceiling the room would have felt more closed in.

The walk-in-closet goes the whole length of the room and is quite large. Large closets are key these days. In the middle of the wall, we placed an outlet and on the other side we have a cable outlet, so a flat screen can be placed here with hidden controls. Or a nice painting.
It gives off such a nice glow. My mom made the lamp pictured here. She also made the afghan on the bed. That was one of our wedding presents. It's very warm and the cats love it when it's on my lap. I just read the Pillars of the Earth which has been on my bookshelf for a few years. What a treat. I was completely absorbed for 2 weeks in the 12th century.

home office

I have a bit of commute to work (a little over an hour including a ferry crossing), but what helps is working from home 2 days a week. I am using the 3rd bedroom which is on the main floor as my office. Having a laptop helps keep it neat and portable. I need to clarify that the bookcases here were designed and made by me BEFORE I met Neil. On close inspection, they are not quite up to his standards...I've been told my carpentry skills are a bit "sketchy". Having this main floor bedroom with a full bathroom downstairs, gives one the flexibility of having one story living or using it as TV room, guest room or as I am, an office.

The Karina - main bedroom

Trim out has started. Most of the doors are hung and window trim is about finished. Upstairs in the main bedroom we have a shelf above the closet. This is a detail we have done often at Ross Chapin Architects. It allows for the ceiling to continue and makes the space feel a bit larger than if the wall continued straight up. It's also a place where we can put a rope light and have the light bounce off the ceiling.

Typically in our RCA houses we run a 1/2"x2 1/2" ceiling trim at the wall & ceiling intersection. When I was out at the house on Wednesday, Neil and I were going over where all this would go and how we would do the bathroom and skylight locations...then we agreed to hold off...see what it would look like without. In our current home we have a vaulted ceiling and we left off the trim. It gives it a more modern look which is what we are going for. We will still have trim around the windows & doors and at the shelf, but just left off the ceiling trim upstairs. Of course Neil liked that idea!

This is our his & her closet. A bit excessive with the 2 pocket doors, but I like it. The middle wall is wired for a flat screen.