“I essentially gave them a blank slate with the footprint of the top level,” Clayton says. Brown and interior designer Kali Buchanan, founder of KBID, thoughtfully reimagined the upper-level suite, which originally comprised a bedroom, bathroom, and closet.

The redesign’s goals were to make the primary suite “more functional, updated, and ideally brighter and more open,” Clayton says. Small windows and a central chimney stack limited options, while sloped ceilings hit at head height in many locations.

“Because the closet wraps behind the bedroom area and extends beneath the sloped roofline, we carefully studied where lower shelving and cabinetry would function best versus where taller, hanging storage could be accommodated most effectively,” Buchanan says. Ample hallways now house much-needed storage and shoe shelving, along with refrigerated drawers and a nearby sink for beverages.

Curves were added to soften the roof’s low peaks, making these areas feel integrated into the design. When Brian Faust of Faust Construction was hired, nothing was square, level, or plumb.

“We essentially had to rebuild a perfectly straight and true shell within the existing structure so all of the precision details could actually work together,” Faust says. “With a project like this, the cleaner and more minimal the design becomes, the less room there is to hide imperfections. Everything has to align perfectly, so a tremendous amount of the work happens behind the scenes before the finish materials are ever installed.”