Carriage House - Second Floor
This is the room that always inspires the most "Oooohh!"s. It is the ballroom. It is roughly the same size as the living room, but with a vaulted ceiling that reminds us of a medieval banquet hall. The french doors lead to the balcony, which was recently rebuilt with a new railing. It also has a fireplace, seen in the picture below.
The room has been used for choir rehearsals for our church, community meetings, and, of course, parties. The two pianos had to be hoisted through the double doors at center, as they didn't fit up the stairs.
Right now, the room is being used as Welmoed's drapery workroom, so it is full of sewing equipment!
This view of the ballroom shows the fireplace. It's much larger than the average hearth -- the opening is about five feet wide! It also has a built-in swing-arm to support a pot of simmering cider or mulled wine.
The rest of the second level consists of a "guest suite": two rooms and a bath. However, we still use the rooms. One room will become our "library", as it has a lot of built-in bookcases. This room has served several functions already: first it was Welmoed's office, then it was her sewing room. Now it will be the library.
The white box on the right is a portable air conditioner. It works very well, especially since we don't need to cool this space unless we are actively using it.
The other side of the room has more built-in bookcases.
We are still searching for the right furniture for this room.
The guest room now has different furniture, but it is still an inviting place for visitors to spend a few nights.