It's the everything-built-in bedroom

Sunset, April, 1986

It's the everything-built-in bedroom

More a retreat than a bedroom, this 20-by 25-foot second-floor area combines the comforts of a den, living room, and sleeping chamber. It contains a bureau, a queen-size bed with 12-foot-long headboard, a long planter, a couch with two end tables, a TV and stereo center, a desk, and a fireplace with wood-storage bin-- all without seeming crowded. The key to the spaciousness is that everything except the desk's chair and bed is built in.

To make this possible, architect Scott Mitchell of Menlo Park, California, borrowed some space from adjacent rooms, framed in thicker-than-normal walls, and used partitions as integral parts of the furniture.

Bureau drawers, bedside cabinets, and doors for the TV and stereo center are unobtrusive: they sit flush with the walls and are painted the same color. The bureau is part of an extra-thick wall between bedroom and bath. Twin storage compartments flanking the bed fit into a 12-inch-deep wall into which Mitchell sculpted a curving, 54-inch-high recess.

Curves repeat elsewhere. A low wall wraps around the 9-foot couch, creating two 24-inch-high end tables. The end wall of the 3 1/2-foot-wide alcove at the room's entry curves toward the front of the house. A slab of travertine marble spans the alcove and butts with the curving wall to make a desk. The most prominent curve is part of a two-story wall of glass.

The 12 1/2-foot section of wall containing the fireplace stands 33 inches inside the true outside wall. In the space between the two, Mitchell built the cabinets for the television and stereo (at the end adjoining the couch) and the wood-storage bin.

Except for lamps on either side of the couch and one on the desk and headboard, recessed fixtures provide lighting for the room and maintain the uncluttered look. Three down lights in the recess above the bed work well for reading in bed and add dramatic nighttime lighting.

Photo: Low L-shaped wall near windows wraps around opening to room below. On bedroom side, it widens into a couch with end tables. Doors set flush in wall open to reveal TV and stereo storage. Ivy in galvanized trough behind couch enjoys light from two-story window

Photo: Plan shows numerous built-ins, including planter behind couch. Only the bed and desk chair are freestanding. Master bath and walk-in closet adjoin bedroom. Industrial carpet (tint) runs throughout

Photo: Headboard wall has curving marble-topped shelf and wall-washing down lights. Open shelves above built-in drawers flank bed

Photo: Twelve 18-inch-deep drawers in built-in bureau took space from bathroom behind

Photo: Wood-storage bin, set into wall at side of marble-faced fireplace, is 21 inches deep and lined with gypsum board

Photo: Desk alcove gets daylight through a side-wall window. Low wall extends from couch. Rounded corner shows under desk