And to add to that, have your carpenter come up with a way to do a nice cove lighting crown molding with an open space to add on top of those drawers. Have some rope lighting in back of the crown molding, I've had it done and gives off a nice ambiance.

Katbv. I'm not sure I understand your suggestion. I don't think we can do a crown molding on a vaulted ceiling and we don't have any drawers. My husband has put rope lighting under the bathtub ( which is not shown in the photo) so we'll get some of the ambient lighting you're referring to.

I think I was thinking about sliding doors if we enclose the area. I'm a little concerned about doors that open out (either hinged on top or bottom) because we will have to use a ladder to access the area and I don't want to have to put the ladder too far away from the wall. We can also just leave it open and take down the old radio/boom box.

I would just wall it up and keep it from being a dirt catcher. You can put doors that open, but chances are you will never use it.

I understand your concern that any wall you build to enclose this won't align with the peak of the ceiling. I can't tell from these photos how far off it would be?

I would take everything down and just ignore it, unless you are really hard up for storage. Sliding doors would be best if you decide to go for doors but will you really use it if you have to grab a ladder?

Can a sliding ladder be included in the plan? You could use it for hanging towels when not in use. I would build storage out of it.

Paint it to match the tile in your lovely shower.

Drywall and move on! That would be impractical storage and I'm betting that whatever you store there are things that you don't need to keep at all.

Have you considered leaving it as-is and using it as a place to store things in baskets? I would be lots cheaper than most of the other suggestions.

You might use it to store stuff in wicker baskets. And I kind of like the idea of having some kind of attractive step-stool in the bathroom to double for holding towels.

Thank you all for your good judgement and usual Houzzer creativity. Sandraclark, I thought of the "library ladder" too but the space is in the door opening from the master bedroom so there just isn't enough room there. Besides, my husband has decided that everything he's ever seen that he likes in a bathroom is going to be incorporated in this room. He put in a radiant heat floor, a whirlpool tub, a tile medallion in the center of the floor, a pebble shower floor, staggered travertine floor tiles with squares, all kinds of plumbing devices and to top it off, a barn door over the closet door (the door on the right in the picture). So that's about enough for me.

I think those of you who said I probably wouldn't use the space for storage are most likely correct. It's not as if we live in an apartment. So we should just close it off. But the problem remains what to do about the wall/ceiling juncture and how it will hit the wrong side of the vaulted ceiling. Hard to see by the third picture but if we extend this wall straight up it will come about a foot away from the apex of the ceiling. If it covered up the apex, nobody would think anything of it but it hits on the return side of the apex which I think looks weird. That's probably why it was left open in the first place. So, does that matter? Maybe we should just take out the radio and forget about it.

This project has been going on for about 8 months now. And, for those of you who grumble about husbands not liking our decorating ideas, I get it. My husband is not going to take out the existing vanity which is oak that he put that Rustoleum stain kit on and it still has the Hollywood lights above and an ugly slab of granite that doesn't match the new tile and he won't extend the tile into the contiguous closet floor. "I'll come back to it," he claims. Yeah, sure.

Thanks for your wise comments. It provided some needed clarity.