Does anyone have pics of there loft from below?

[devildog]

Ive searched thru the gallery, and even did a search on the forum and cant find what Im looking for.
While discussing our future plans, hopefully near,my wife thinks we should close in the loft wall for privacy for my daughter, as it will be her room. My thoughts are: she's only 5, and it would make the open area seem smaller. And with an 8'6" floor height and a 3'6'' knee/safety(Im not sure what its called,but closed in, not banister) wall, you wouldn't be able to see anything but the ceiling from beneath.

If anyone has pics to share so I could show her,both closed in and/or open Id apreciate it. Preferably on 20x30 w/loft,but any will do.
Thanks Darrell

[MountainDon]

I have no photos, but I do have a question.

How is that space to be heated/cooled? If it was closed in that would become of greater concern.

[JRR]

This might be a good application for that wooden lattice that is usually used between piers or in garden spaces.  A lattice-wall would allow free passage of air, some light ... but with a great deal of privacy.  Be a good surface for hanging posters, pictures and other doo-dads.

[devildog]

I would have ducted a/c & heat.

I dont think I'd like the lattice look, but appreciate the ideas.
Darrell

[John Raabe]

See if this gives you any ideas.

Ladder at left accesses loft through a hatch. A solid railing could provide privacy without impeding air circulation.

[MountainDon]

Okay then. She's 5 now, but will get older. For that reason I believe there should be some private space, to sleep, change clothing, pout and sulk and suffer consequences. But the space doesn't need to be larger than whats needed for a bed, clothing and personal belongings storage. If there is no way to see into the space from below there would really be no need for traditional solid walls either.


The next comment is getting into the realm of parenting styles and beliefs, so I know that not everyone will agree with me, but to me it influences the space required for a child's bedroom.

[soapbox ON]
No TV or personal computer in the room. It's a bedroom and not a meeting place, not a clubhouse or hangout nor place for play or entertainment. It's a nunnery or a monastery cell.    Play and entertainment space should be public and open where it is easy to keep an eye on what is going on. That applies to 5, 10, 15...  years of age.
[soapbox OFF]

[pagan]

Listening to all that chanting going on day and night would get annoying. 

[John_M]

[soapbox ON]
No TV or personal computer in the room. It's a bedroom and not a meeting place, not a clubhouse or hangout nor place for play or entertainment. It's a nunnery or a monastery cell.    Play and entertainment space should be public and open where it is easy to keep an eye on what is going on. That applies to 5, 10, 15...  years of age.
[soapbox OFF]

As a high school science teacher, father of  2 1/2 year old and 5 week old sons, and an uncle of 6 nieces and nephews....I agree with you Mountain Don 100%.  I'm not trying to cause thread drift here, but I talk to a lot of parents that tell me "we are home as a family 4 or 5 nights a week".  Right.....mom is in the kitchen watching TV, father is in the basement watching TV, son in the family room watching TV, daughter is in her bedroom on the phone/the computer/listening to music while watching TV.  Less and less parents are asking questions and more and more parents are trying to be "friends" with their kids, thinking they'll be the cool parent who gets them a cell phone when they're 8 years old and put a computer in their room so they can surf the net when their friends are over?  We wonder why old fashioned values and work ethic is disappearing in our country?  Have you seen the things kids are watching on TV?  Southpark?  Family Guy?  I know they are funny, but when I have students constantly quoting lines or using rational from the show to engage in class discussions....we have a problem here!!

.....again, sorry for the thread drift....but some things just get me going!!!  

I will add that I agree that it should be closed off completely(walls), especially if you have forced hot air.  You may have guests that stay over occasionally?  How will they feel if they have to get dressed in a room with no walls....just railings?

[waggin]

Good points above for configuration, and they'll go into my mental design file for myself.  Think of all potential users of the bedroom and what their needs might be.  With forced air heat, you aren't limited by heating concerns.

I'll throw in my $.02 on bedrooms from an adult perspective:  Bedrooms are for sleeping and sex.  TV's don't belong there. 

[devildog]

Thanks for the pic john.

All good points. I did mention to my wife that we could extend the wall to the ceiling later if she needed more privacy when she's older.

As far as guest go,I think they should deal with what they get. Im not trying to be mean, but I just came back from a 9 day vacation where I slept on a blow up mattress in the living room. You usually know the circumstances before you go and if you dont think you can handle it,you dont go.

Im still going to search and see if I can find some pics.Thanks again for the comments.
Darrell

[MaineRhino]

This may be a little more rustic than what you want, but it gives a feel of what the view would be.









I think a short wall may give the child more privacy, but the real issue would be the sound, such as from a radio, ipod, or even speaking (or playing).

Ours is 20x26, and the loft is 20x10.

[MountainDon]

As far as guest go,I think they should deal with what they get.

Right. As far as we are concerned we build/buy what we want/need for our normal day to day lives. Over the years we have packed a good number of people into the house on a temporary basis. There were one or two who perceived their needs to be above what we have to offer. The nearby hotels take care of that. Ditto when we visit a couple different relatives. We know will will be better served by the local Day's Inn. No hard feelings are held by anyone as far as I know.

[devildog]

MaineRhino, That does prove what Im talking about. While standing below, if that wall was solid and about 42" you couldnt see anything going on in the room.
Thanks Darrell

[eddiescabin]

I think ScottA has a solid walled loft...look in his pages 30-36

[MikeOnBike]

I'm going to use some translucent, not clear, roofing panels to define some space without making it feel too closed in.  I will provide privacy with shadows at best but still let a fair amount of light through.  It may not be much of a sound barrier though.  This might work on top of your safety wall.  You could even stop it short of the ceiling if you wanted to allow better air movement.

[devildog]

MikeOnBike, not a bad idea. If it looked "modern",my wife would buy it.
Darrell

[MikeOnBike]

The best example I found was on dwell.com which is site about modern home design.  I didn't save a link but if I run into an example I'll post here.

Here are a couple of pics, not a loft wall but similar.

http://archinspire.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/container-house-design-ideas3.jpg

http://archinspire.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/container-house-design-ideas7.jpg

[devildog]

I cant get those links to work

[Redoverfarm]

Darrell did you happen to check out some of the pics that jdhen posted lately on his build.  They show it fromthe ground floor stairway/loft wall and also from the loft looking down.  They are contained @

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=7442.msg112454#msg112454

[rocking23nf]

I dont think that railing made out of branchs would pass code in many areas, there are too large of gaps in some of the spindles.

I believe 3 inchs is the max you can have.

[devildog]

Redover, thats not really what im looking for. Ive seen many people do it on here,it would take hours to find it,but eventually I will and Ill post it here. Thanks

[WoodSprite]

MikeOnBike, not a bad idea. If it looked "modern",my wife would buy it.
Darrell

How about rice paper, then?

[davidj]

We're thinking about the same issue right now, although it's guest space and lightly use so not really the same constraints.

Our neighbors have 24x32 cabin with loft over bedrooms/bathroom and they have a solid, sheet-rocked, half-height wall.  The loft ends up being pretty private and feels like a separate room although you can lean over the wall to talk and obviously sound carries between the two rooms.  Sorry, don't have any photos.

In our 20x30 with a similar setup we decided to go with open rails as the loft window as a good source of late afternoon light in Spring and Fall.  As a gesture towards privacy we're probably gonna get some movable screens - a rustic cabin equivalent of a Japanese shoji screen.