definitely an option i was considering. i love staghorn fern and aroid palms as well. dont have much luck with the more fragile ferns. the landord should be getting a ladder for it eventually.one thing that scare me about stuffing it full of plants is making my apartment feel smaller. i dont have a lot of quare feet so the 12 foot celings are really saving it, btw would you guys go dark or light on the rail?im tempted to get them charcoal like my doors or white so it fades and i can ignore it.

Oh right, so they're not yours so you can't remove them?
Not sure about what colour is best. Dark usually 'disappears' better, but in this case, with the light background, a lighter colour could work better. Same colour as walls?

btw there are two 4 ft double fluorescent strips that i turn on at night. i put in 3000k bulbs so it looks warm and not the disgusting bluish light from offices. and there is nothing i would love more thank to get rid of the railing but im renting so its an issue. i could probably convince them to paint in the least.

I had a wall like that (with no railing) that I threw a large tapestry / rug over and it decorated both sides.You could probably do it with the railing if you want, though it is kind of a weird place to have a little fence. : )
I wouldn't put plants because it probably isn't light enough and watering and caring for them would be a pain, which means you'd put it off and they'd die.

I think you could make it a very interesting feature by getting some two by fours and creating mezzanine floor to ceiling frames over which you stretch a pale canvas or linen. Stagger them rather than making a straight line across the mezzanine. Add lights behind them so you create more visual depth at night and in the day time the frames will make interesting shadows

this kind of idea (if I am not making myself clear) but in solid frames and covered in linen

Is it possible to paint the upper wall a sky blue color? Not sure how the wall looks opposite the mezzanine area, but it could look very cool if that 'soffit' wraps all the way around. Then hang air plants so you do not have to water

Love that idea, ASV. Also wondering if you would find it useful to have bedding area towards exterior wall for guests..

I think remove the rail if you can, place some uprights that have dimmers, get some surround speakers up there. then a few plants.

My first thought was to add a rolling ladder so the railing has to go and then make that a reading knook with throw pillows.

With the ladder, you can use the space as a library. Just put the books between the rails.

Would make a great loft bedroom for guests.... or perhaps a library. Some bookcases and a reading chair or hammock?

I wouldn't want to have to sleep up there if I were a guest, nor is there enough height for a chair. It's only 4' high!

LOL!! I had a place in Manhattan........

Convince your landlord to let you take down that awful railing, and then place old wooden crates along the edge, turned on their side to house books.

yeah the last tenant had a mattress up there. you roll over and fall 10 feet since the thickness of the mattress equals the height of the rail...the staggered canvas idea is really cool. you don't get an impression of depth up there even if you got 5 feet back there.i tried to get an idea of what i would get by propping up canvases of works in progress. i think the idea has potential. what if i hung them from the ceiling? i want to get some flea market frames and give them a coat of paint. possibly get some prints. i have this kind of mirror image painting i started but i lost steam after realizing what a pain in the butt it is to do everything in reverse.and i also don't like comic book art anymore. my tastes are changing towards the more organic. i also love the tillandsias with the glass bubbles.and yes the railing is awful.ill try to see if i can get rid of it. it would open it up a lot. just not super safe when i get up there.

The canvas panel idea is cool! What about using colored translucent film in panels? You could do different colors and make them so they can be rearranged to overlap and make more colors.

whoa really trippy idea. i got a friend who had a vinyl printer.maybe doing some semi translucent art on plexi and mounting it on classic fleak market frames. it would let the light though in the day.

Can't wait to see the 'after pics' great idea ASV !

I agree with using the space for some kind of art display (and storage, if need be :) Best of luck, would love to see the "after" too... Raisa

What is behind the door? Perhaps open the room into that space?

its the bedroom back there. taking down walls isnt an option.

If you cannot take down the walls and the space seems to need to be opened up, yet somewhat private because it is a bedroom, have you considered using a type of glass block that cannot be seen through, yet provides a wall of glass (not the entire wall of course) and draws the light into the space? As well, I would agree that the railing actually dates your room and it looks like you are working with a more contemporary style. Glass block, or glass tends to work well to reflect light and provide the illusion of an opened up space, while at the same time retaining the boundaries of that space when we cannot move walls. Just some thoughts to work with.

He's renting.

No problem then...large glass mirror on the wall.

if i owned then the wall would have come down for sure. my landlord is coming by on saturday so imight take down the rail after all. and ill be getting a 7 ft mirror when i see one i like.

If the rail has to stay it would be great if all the walls and the rail were painted a great white. Everything one color would help the rail blend in instead of standing out so much. Hanging art on white walls can give a great art gallery feel to a space. Put art gallery or gallery wall in the search on houzz and some good pictures come up. Also if you need storage it would be a great place to store stuff but since it is open you would want to use storage that looks nice or of course it could hide behind the pictures you are talking about doing.

If I was your landlord, and if I didn't want the railing painted, couldn't you cleanly and gently remove the railing and replace it before you move? If it can't be removed then it should be painted the same color as the rest of the room. Whatever color makes it dissappear.

Hi Michael if you could get two book shelves, tall ones without backing, to go behind dinning table against the wall. Fill with some books in a decorative manner with pot/ vases, some jugs, large bowls etc. then between each of those railings books all the way along stuff them in and occasionally stack some lying flat, stacked up, to match in with books on the book shelf. Then I would also turn your couch to face away from the kitchen and move enough to allow another book shelf, with no backing again to come off the wall and divide the room. Move couch up against shelf and decorate the shelf with more books, DVD, CDs nick nacks. Hope fully the picture can fit on the wall beside the book case and door to Cosy up lounge area. Don't put money into a rental property painting or renovating, it's never appreciated.

Hi Micheal maybe you should put a sand blast screen to cover the whole area.Use the plastic paste on poster screen on glass or perspecs

or a bookshelve with a sand blast back as you already have natural light at the back

Hi, Mike. From what I can see the ceiling looks flat along that area so have you considered semi- or sheer curtains attached to the ceiling ? The light from the windows would be filtered through them and you could just store stuff up there unseen. Depending on your budget, you could just hang them low enough to hide the rail, or go all the way to the floor in sections to make the curtains define areas. If you block the rail completely it'll block more of the window light as well. If that doesn't matter, then I'd agree with the crate idea to disguise the railing with curtains closing the rest up to the ceiling.

my girlfriend had a space like this and she put an antique bike and some manikins up there. It was so cool and what a conversation piece! Of course she is an artist so we all were expecting something a little bit different from her and she nailed it!

I also wondered what is behind that wall... possibly the ceiling could be dropped a few feet, thereby adding a couple feet in height to the lofted area. Or, remove the back wall of the loft (and the rail) and replace it to a 18-24" depth. That would make a nicer shelf/display area in the living room, and also give you added storage/shelf space in the bedroom.

Have you thought about putting Christmas lights, patio lights or rope lights on that little railing? I also like the idea of the translucent panels in frames.

Run a wall to wall tall bookcase up to a bit over the rail - for a small space you always need storage. Tie the bookcase to the wall so there is no way it can topple over. Install a permanent ladder access to the space behind the bookcase and make it a secret loving space, with a 4 inch firm foam mattress under the skylights viewing the open sky. Four feet is enough space for wonderful cuddling.

Use it as a "shelf" for a well-selected collection of large pieces of pottery or glassware. Put a window treatment as a backdrop. Use various heights of pedestal bases. Whites, ambers would work well or earth tone patterns repeating the patterns of pillows below. Not much maintenance and may be fun to collect.

I honestly would paint it to feature it - like a bright or bold colour. If you make it into a library - paint it out in a gloss verdant green. A display area - brick red. An art installation - gallery white. Do you collect anything like antiques? vintage bicycles? trains? - it could be a display area for something like that. Another idea - since it's only 4' high - could you make it into a theatre? Have a large screen and cover the floor with large boxed cushions? I would use large boxed cushions for a library as well (see pic below) and create access to the area by way of a bookshelf staircase (see pic below). I agree it's an interesting problem but there is a solution!

In my previous house I had a detail like what you have (near kitchen in my case) I got a series of twin tube 4' fluorescent light fixtures with very quiet ballasts and put in full spectrum daylight bulbs. I had 10' ceilings and at night it made the space look bigger. You will have to take away the rail to eliminate shadows on the ceiling. select utilitarian fixtures. Inexpensive and you will never see them. and bulbs are inexpensive as well.
just buy one set to try it out to see if the light pattern and color works for you . Or go to home depot and get a "can uplight" that just sits anywhere $12 with a CF screw in spot light bulb. Just buy one and try it out. can Lights can also work to highlight art displays and other items that may be up there. cheers

Putting anything up there would be a nightmare to keep dusted. Your best option might be to work with lighting and color. LED lights along the bottom of the recessed wall would add a lot of visual interest and spaciousness.

install a ladder to acces the area, add bookcases,fill with books and interesting large items, bean bags or some sort of cushy sitting to hide away and read....

Gymnastics floor for tumbling! ;)

I like margaret's idea of a reading roost. Add a coffeepot and you're all set!

Use the area for storage and hang art in front of the railing, it will hide whatever you are storing too. Or get a cat...a cat would love the loft!

We have the same issue in our garage! Only difference is that its currently faced with super cheap chip board with two doors on either end - basically a 4' tall attic storage area. I'm strongly considering renovating this to a living room and would take the cheap chip board down and replace it with nice barn siding then implement a sliding barn door with nice hardware : ) Yup! A double barn door would also work here. Either way, if you did it right, it would be a great accent.

translucent panels or stained glass panels hung with lights behind them, so they kind of "glow"

Hi I know it is probably too late for any other comments but I was on Pinterest and came across this picture that reminded me of this discussion and although the ceiling is much higher in the picture I found, if I had to deal with the mezzanine space you are dealing with I would want a solution like this which would have to be adapted to the space you have:

A barn door would look good in this space. If you want to go with barn door hardware we would be glad to help you on your project! http://rusticahardware.com/barn-door-hardware/

I'm curious as to what you decided to do.

A long piece of art or a gallery of large pieces of art. Too bad the railing has to stay. Can you paint it the same color as walls or even black to make it disappear?

How securely attached is the railing? You could always remove it and put it back when you move.