My house is kind of weird. The second floor is just a big master suite. But the way the addition was done, the stairs come up in the middle of the room (sort of like attic stairs do sometimes, which makes sense because it used to be an attic), so there's no door. And it's an open staircase at the bottom, so there's no door on that end either.
These are pictures from before we owned the house, but they're all I've got.
Upstairs:

Upstairs on the other side of the stairs:

Downstairs:

We've been going round and round trying to figure out how to get a door on our bedroom. We've mostly been talking about building some walls upstairs to divide it into a bedroom and a little office space, but because of the way the HVAC is set up, and the way the ceiling is angled, it's just not going to work.
So yesterday, I was thinking about closing off the staircase. Basically instead of a railing here, there would be wall, and we could put a door at the foot of the stairs:

What do you think? Will it make things look too closed off in the living room? I like the look of the open stairs, but it might actually make furniture arranging a little easier in that space to have a solid wall. We could put a sectional where those two chairs are (our current furniture arrangement is similar to what the old owners had - there really aren't a lot of options in this room).
Re: Help me with house renovations
I think you could close it off, but build a nook underneath.
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Baby Boxer is coming! 5.23.12
www.focushunting.com
"That chick wins at Penises, for sure." -- Fenton
We're not planning on moving any time in the immediate future. We talk about moving back to NY eventually, but that plan is at least 5 years away. Since we know that we don't want to live there forever, we don't want to make any changes that will negatively impact resale, but I think that actually having a door to the master suite would probably be a good thing. My H and I noticed the no-door thing when we were looking, and thought it was weird. We just decided we didn't care that much since it was only the two of us.
The one thing that might be weird about this plan is that the door will have to open out into the hallway. It's going to be one of those situations where the door needs to be closed all the time, or it will be in the way. And you'd risk hitting people when opening it from the upstairs.
Baby Boxer is coming! 5.23.12
www.focushunting.com
Claire Elizabeth 12/31/2011
Married Bio
The guest room is right next to the stairs, so I don't think we could do a pocket door. Mr Boxer wants to do a garage style door, but I did my best to squash that idea.
Baby Boxer is coming! 5.23.12
www.focushunting.com
"That chick wins at Penises, for sure." -- Fenton