View, storage, light … the stairwell is the key

Sunset, June, 1989

Everything happens around the stairwell of this master bedroom addition to a 1915 bungalow in Mar Vista, California. The stairwell helps bring in light, provides storage space, and allows views out a grandly scaled second-story window. By combining several different functions in one sculptural feature, Los Angeles architect Barton Phelps made the addition seem as bright and open as possible.

Phelps set the stairs at one end of the new bedroom, so that an exterior window wall at the top of the steps could provide light for both the stairway and the bedroom itself. The big 8- by 10-foot window faces a small outside balcony, reached through a door at the top of the stairs. Outside, a custom-carved wood sunshade and brackets that support the eaves match details found elsewhere on the house.

To keep the bedroom as airy as possible, Phelps brought the balcony idea inside, with a low wall of built-in bookshelves overlooking the stairs and doubling as a railing. The countertop provides display space. From the bed, you can see across the stairway to the deck and trees outside. Bookshelves also surround the door to the walk-in closet, which extends over the stairs.