They angled the desk and closet in this big bedroom

Sunset, August, 1984

They angled the desk and closet in this big bedroom

Two partitions--a desk-vanity island and a closet peninsula--make this master bedroom and bathroom a spacious yet efficient open-plan room.

Owner-architect Duaine Duff and his wife, Barbara, of Santa Ana, California, wanted a roomier, lighter bedroom, a bathroom with both a shower and a sunken tub, and access to a new outdoor deck. When Duff designed the 250-square-foot expansion, he omitted space-consuming interior doors; instead he divided the room with the island and closet and added steps down to a sliding glass door opening onto the deck. He put a reading area by the windows at the foot of the bed and an angular tiled tub in the corner next to the bathroom's exterior windows.

The 80-inch-high closet serves as the bedroom's back wall and the bed's headboard; the 54-inch-high island separates bedroom from bath. By angling the ends of both closet and desk, Duff created an entry into the bedroom and easy passage around the room (see drawing).

Two skylights in the new sloped ceiling provide daylighting over the bed.

Photo: Room-dividing island includes desk, waist-high vanity, and drawers. Open triangle is laundry hamper; shower and sunken tub are behind her

Photo: Tongue-and-groove hemlock siding creates handsome desk that blocks view of bath area

Photo: Complementary angles direct you into the bedroom, down to patio

Photo: Closet with angled corner at bedroom's entry doubles as privacy partition; skylights over bed balance light from windows