The Third-Floor Suite

The third floor is a home of its own.

The entire third floor is a suite to itself: its own bath, kitchenette, and laundry under a vaulted ceiling, with seven-foot arched windows at each of the four gables.

Seven-foot arched window, frames the sky looking east.

One open space end to end, it follows the line of the roof: the ceiling rises over the middle of the room and slopes to the gable ends. The house stands high enough that the third floor clears the rooflines around it, so the views run a long way on every side. The back window looks over the red-leaved beech in the yard; the other three look across the neighborhood below.

The suite has a full bathroom, and a generous one: an oval soaking tub set into a tiled surround under the eaves, plus a separate glass-enclosed shower tiled to match, a vanity with brass fixtures, and a window. This is the primary suite, and a private one: you don't share the bath, and you don't share the floor.

Storage is built into the low walls where the roof meets the floor: a full bank of drawers and cabinetry in the eaves, plus three closets shaped to the slope and a fourth on the stair landing. A washer and dryer sit in a nook on this level too.

Floor
3rd, 606 sq ft
Layout
Full-floor suite
Bath
Soaking tub + shower
Windows
Seven-foot arched, four gables

Ways to live in it

Bedroom, study, or guest floor.

  • 01

    Primary retreat

    A bedroom that takes the whole top of the house, with its own bath, a private stair, and the arched window over the beech. The rest of the household is a floor below, and it stays quiet up here.

  • 02

    Primary + study

    The floor is big enough to hold a bed at one end and a desk under the arched window at the other. Work in the light by day, and have the whole floor to yourself at night.

  • 03

    Guest floor

    A long-term guest or a parent who visits for a stretch gets a full floor with a soaking tub, a shower, and a kitchenette of their own, close enough to be together, separate enough that everyone keeps their own routine.

  • 04

    Studio or reading room

    The quiet, the separate floor, and the slope of the ceiling make it a natural place to paint, write, or simply sit. The built-in eaves storage keeps materials out of sight along the low walls.

A full floor under the roofline, one calm, open space.
The northeast corner, where two of the gables meet under the roofline.
The north length of the floor, the arched window at the end.
The northwest corner, where the roofline comes down to meet the floor.
The west end, the arched window over the rooftops, the internal stair landing alongside.
The southwest corner, kitchenette on one wall, the laundry alcove behind, the west arch at the end.
The southeast corner, kitchenette built into the wall.
A kitchenette set under one of the arched windows, sink, counter, and cabinetry without leaving the floor.
Storage built into the eaves keeps the open floor open.
A closet opens beside the eaves drawers, hanging rod inside, the built-in chest alongside.
An eave closet shaped to the slope, hanging rod above, stepped shelves following the roofline down.
A storage closet beside the stair landing, filling the space the suite stairs leave behind.
A washer and dryer on the floor itself, set under the eave, no stairs to haul it down.
The bath sink under the south arch, brass faucet, the yard just outside.
The full suite bath, glass shower and vanity, with its own window.
The tub from the corner, built into the eave, dressing drawers alongside.
The suite's own soaking tub, set into a tiled surround beneath the eaves.