For years, these homeowners used the attic of their Shaker Heights home from 1935 as a space to store their unwanted clutter. They contacted us wanting to make the space a functional and useful guest suite for friends and family when they come to visit. Specifically, the homeowners wanted a glass tile shower to modernize the bathroom and make the space more illuminated. In the bedroom area, they wanted hardwood floors to tie into the rest of their house and to be able to give a warmer environment for their guests. One of the major issues we had to overcome was the 3rd floor staircase, proving to be too small to bring any materials through. To improvise, we had to do the next best thing, we removed a double window from the third floor and had to bring all the materials through that space in the dead heat of winter. Then in the middle of the job, we discovered another issue with the bathroom layout, which was the toilet. We discovered where the toilet was going to be placed, we could not cut the floor joist for a conventional toilet. Our solution was a rear discharge toilet which allowed us to run the drain line through a crawl space and connect it to the plumbing stack, eliminating all of our issues.
In the end, the homeowners were blown away with the transformation of their space and could not believe the functionality of the space. All said and done, the homeowners debated if they should make that space their master bedroom, but decided against it to give their guests the best place to stay in the house.