Most kids’ rooms are stopgap affairs: basic-at-best overrun by toys and stuffed animals. After all, childhood is brief. Or is it? The parents of the siblings who occupy this compact suite in a 1905 NYC building (a converted sewing factory) decided it was worth investing in quarters their kids, now ages three and five, can share for years to come.
A while back, the team at Workstead had overhauled the family’s living room and master bedroom. When the couple had their second child, they called back the firm to upgrade the 450-square-foot kids’ bedroom and bath. The mandate: ample storage, a desk to grow into, and room to play.
Above: “Our concept was to put the kids in the closet,” says Nadine Lynch, Workstead’s project designer. Translation: They turned what had been a walk-in closet into a built-in bunkbed complete with cupboards and drawers.
Cherry plywood was selected to work with the existing wooden elements including the door and frame with a fluted glass transom.
Above: For privacy, the beds have curtains of Rebecca Atwood printed linen. Above: In addition to storage under and next to the beds, the steps to the top bunk contain drawers with child-friendly cutouts. Note the exposed plywood edges: “since there’s so much wood in the space, the edges make it feel more casual and playful,” says Lynch. Above: Along the window wall, a built-in desk turns a corner, where it becomes an armoire. All of the millwork was done by Brooklyn-based master carpenter Markus Bartenschlager (see The Artful Shoebox Apartment, Workstead Edition).
Above: The desk is fitted with a range of storage, including toy bins. The pair of bentwood Pagholz Chairs are from the sixties and were sourced from Kinder Modern. The wood-framed windows and (cord-free) wood blinds were in place. The wall shelves are cherry plywood suspended by Etsy seller Vaughan Designs’ Steel Sling Brackets ($46.83 each, plus shipping from Australia).
Above: An architect was here. The formerly cramped bathroom—”the plumbing was oversized and outdated; our clients wanted to make it all easy for kids to use”—is now a seamless gridwork of two-by-four white tiles: Earthenware Elements Field Tile in Winter Chill from Ann Sacks with off-white grout.
“We decided to go with no cut tiles, which means every tile had to be meticulously laid out to fit perfectly within the layout,” Lynch tells us. “We moved the sink to line up with the tub, which allowed for deeper storage for the medicine cabinet and toiletry drawers below.” A trio of niches on the tub wall also provide valuable storage.
Above: A custom towel and drying rack hangs on a wall. Requested as a solution for tight quarters, it folds out to offer more rods for layering with laundry. Above: An anteroom outside the bath is now a linen and utility closet. The tall cabinet is fitted to hold the broom, mop, and vacuum. On the immediate other side stands the bunkbed cupboard.
Before
Above: Prior to renovation, in addition to being gloomy, both rooms offered little in the way of floor space. The bedroom was taken up by a bed, a crib, and an explosion of Legos.
After
Above: Custom cabinetry and a reorganized and updated bathroom completely transform the suite.
When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.
Access 10 archived posts (older than one year) per month on each site
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Unlimited access to the Product Catalogs, Design Travel sources, and Architect & Designer Directory listings
Choose from our ten newsletters to keep up with the latest on the sites
Or Subscribe for Maximum Value!
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
×
Subscribe to the Remodelista family of websites
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
×
Sorry! As a registered member you get 10 free posts from our archive (posts more than a year old) every 30 days. You have reached your limit for this 30-day period. If you would like to access unlimited posts from the archive (ad free, too), become a subscriber today, and keep reading as many articles as you want.
Full Access Individual Subscription
Benefits include:
Unlimited access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home sites
Ad-free browsing environment
Unrestricted access to 30,000+ archived posts
Receive the full-text daily newsletters
All features that Members have access to
Annual subscribers pay just 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
Sorry! You have reached your limit of three (3) free posts from our archive every 30 days. You can increase this to 10 posts by joining as a free Member, or read unlimited posts with no ads by becoming a paid Subscriber.
Subscribe to the Remodelista family of websites
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
Become a Member at no charge
When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.
Congratulations on becoming a Subscriber to Remodelista, Gardenista and The Organized Home! You now have access to many great features across the sites:
Unlimited access to all three sites
Ad-free browsing environment
Unrestricted access to 30,000+ archived posts
Receive any of the newsletters, including the the full-text daily Remodelista and Gardenista newsletters
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Congratulations on joining as a free Member of Remodelista, Gardenista and The Organized Home! You now have access to many great features across the sites:
Access to all posts published in the past year
Access 10 archived posts (older than one year) per month on each site
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Unlimited access to the Product Catalogs, Design Travel sources, and Architect & Designer Directory listings
Choose from our ten newsletters to keep up with the latest on the sites
If at any time you want to become a Subscriber and enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to all our content, just go to the My Account link and choose Subscribe.
Have a Question or Comment About This Post?
Start the Conversation