You could eliminate it or wall it up for a small office or other use.

Drywall. It appears a hallway and not a space for the bed.

I would dry wall. Some architect thought a lofted feel would be fun. It's not practical at all. I just saw an old Sarah Richardson show where she hung a curtain across the railing. Looked dumb really. Dry wall is your best option and then you have a room for office space, lounging, exercise just off the Master.

Drywall, or remove.

Wall it up. It may need support from below depending on the structure. Does the upper area to the right need a door? What are your thoughts on a purpose for the space? Library, playroom, upstairs TV room?

Thanks for all the replies. I‘m guessing it was left open to provide lots of natural light to the master bedroom and provide a second floor view outdoors—the back of the room overlooks a golf course and a national forest mountain range. Would closing it open make the bedroom feel dark?

Another bedroom on that floor has a vertical ladder that can be used to access a loft above that room’s space and second floor playroom. But since its in a whimsical kid’s bedroom, that loft space works well as a reading nook and to provide access to the playroom without having to go to the main staircase.

The house is huge (2 dedicated offices plus 5 bedrooms) spread over the first two floors. Also has a full basement. So space is not an issue in any way.

Hubby wondered if we could add a spiral staircase inside the master bedroom to access that area and the second floor. We are in our 40s so a matching vertical staircase is not practical! lol But not sure if that would fix the weirdness factor when our kids left the nest and we eventually wanted to resell.

See I guess I agree with the hubby! And that was my first thought about walling it up, that it would take out that natural light.

I would need to know about theHVAC system often these spaces were deisgned as part of that in loft buildings. It also would be a good ide to actually post a floor plan. From what I can see it looks like a hallway

Based on photos I would extend that across so the bedroom has a flat ceiling and you’ve gained a room upstairs. Or just remove.

FWIW, the master loft has a door on the left that locks from the inside of the loft area. So short term we could lock the door and live with it. But we definitely want to have a fix as we feel the weirdness hurts the long-term resell value.

I think you could make it very classy. A nice staircase, doesn’t have to be spiral. Could be just up along the wall. And a seating area to enjoy the view with your morning coffee.

In regards to light, the wall of windows in bedroom should be more than sufficient and a light paint color will do wonders as welll. I also wouldn't worry about resale, as you described that home has plenty of space options. A good compromise though could be something like below.

You say it is accessed from another bedroom/room on the floor above it, so NOT the master? It seems to narrow for “use” of any kind. I would consider eliminating the door from the room above to it. Then, either doubling the loft floor so it is actually useable as a room, accessible from the Master, via a spiral stair. Or eliminating it altogether. Tear it out. And reconfigure the windows so that they are more expansive and your view from the Master is broad and bright.

In the bottom pic, without the camera lens distortion, the space looks relatively small. Unless you need an additional room I would be inclined to remove it.

Can you close the curtains to get a feel for what it would do to the light if you chose to close it up?

Luckily you have ample windows below so closing it up wouldn’t dramatically cut out natural light. But if you “dress it up” to look like a private retreat in the bedroom (putting a staircase from the bedroom to the loft) it would add value. A place for coffee or reading could be wonderful - and private. I wouldn’t close it up but work with it in order to retain the extra light. Maybe permanently lock the door entrance at the top so it is absolutely only for the master bedroom users. If well designed it could be a positive feature upon resale.

Why not close up the door from the 2nd floor hallway and cut the balcony back to the upper window wall?

Instead of spending money on large structural changes to close off or adding a staircase, I’d update the bedroom; fireplace, flooring, walls, etc. From a resale perspective, this will have much more value. You could change the railing and skip any window treatment. Don’t think of it as a room, but as a light source.

Living there for a bit will garner you ideas as well, I suspect. Is this dilemma making you hesitate to buy the house?

I agree with just removing it as it does not look wide enough to function as anything other than a walkway which makes it a weird unnecessary space. It looks like it was built to increase the ceiling size in the area below in order to make that space feel like a room with in a room. It looks as though you would have space for a few pieces of furniture that would fit within the remaining ceiling area. Removing the actual balcony is not a huge structural issue, it's what is left to do after. You may need the help of an architect to help address issues such as unbalanced windows, different ceiling heights, and double height room. It won't be inexpensive.

I have a friend who had a house with a loft in the master bedroom like yours. She used it as a reading loft/coffee nook. The windows had great mountain views. I tried to find a photo of something similar - but there wasn’t much to choose from :

Your space looks a lot like hers did - unfortunately, they had to sell the house back in 2012. It was her dream home - so, I don’t feel comfortable asking her to send me photos. Even though it’s been 9 years, it still makes her sad. They didn’t want to use a spiral staircase for access, so they built something similar to the one in this photo. You can add a staircase style that matches the look of your home. It was actually a REALLY cool feature.

Wow. That looks nice. Much more functional than spiral.

If you have the address googleing will come up with Zillow pics of the last time it sold much of the time.

E S - in addition to the staircase in my previous post, there are many space saving staircases other than spiral. I didn’t realize that you can purchase modular staircases that are not very expensive.

If you like modern designs, you could add a cool looking floating staircase.

You could also add built-in storage under the staircase - your dresser/chest of drawers could be located within the staircase in order to save space in your bedroom.

I would love to have some type of ”private” space hidden away in my master bedroom!

Take it out completely and have a wall of windows

Bedrooms are for sleeping. Tear it out and have a double-height bedroom. Sad that this very large room has windows on only one wall.

Say, could you use another space as the MBR and convert this to library...with upper level?