Loft Above the Closet

The first major home improvement thing I tried was to make a loft in the empty space above the closet in my bedroom. There's not a whole lot of space up there, but I thought it would be a fun place for visiting kids to hang out. I started in August 2011 and finished in November 2011.

Before-ish picture (I had already started cutting into the ceiling of the closet to make an opening for the ladder, hence the debris).

The ladder came first (photographed downstairs, not in situ). The rails are 2x4s, and the rungs are cut from closet hanging rods.

 I used a drill press from the Berkeley Tool Lending Library to drill the holes for the rungs, which go all the way through. I eventually sanded them down flush.

The hole for the ladder. This was a bear, mostly because I didn't know what I was doing. I started with a drywall knife, then moved on to a jigsaw, then finally used a sawzall from the Berkeley Tool Lending Library (which is what I should have started with in the first place).

Context for the hole. 

When a sawzall blade hits a nail...

Starting to frame the railing. The piece against the ceiling is an alder 1x2, as is the piece along the "floor" of the loft. I routed rounded corners on the exposed sides of both. The ceiling piece is being propped up by a 3/4" dowel, which will eventually be one of the rails.

That top piece is pre-shaped oak railing. Holes drilled courtesy of the Tool Lending Library drill press.

The holes in the alder 1x2 had to be drilled at an angle. I should have used a level for plumb, but I didn't think of that until it was too late. So, as you'll see in future pics, the rails didn't turn out quite parallel, especially the tiny ones on the left.

Measuring the lengths of the rails to the oak railing was fairly easy. Measuring the heights for the other ones was hard. I had to go back to the miter saw a few times for each...

Railing complete! The post on the right is two alder 1x2s glued together, and bolted to the stud with large bolts. The top and bottom rail pieces are also bolted to the post with large bolts.

The fragile sheetrock broke, needed to be clamped together to avoid further breakage...

Note the wonky angles of the leftmost rails, particularly the third one...

Reinforcing the opening with 2x4s. 

Gluing the "box" that will line the opening. 

Ah, much better with the "box" in place and some corner finish pieces

After applying finish to the opening cover and spackling some flaws, but before painting.

Completed ladder and opening

Completed railing

Completed loft area with carpet, custom cut foam mattress, and pillows (thanks Mom, for sewing the mattress and pillow covers!)