Upstairs now children

Creating bedrooms and bathrooms designed specifically for children might take the form of introducing playful wallpaper or easily accessed toy boxes. However, the world of childhood can also be evoked from the bones of the architecture itself, creating spaces that are intriguing and self-referencing, encouraging the sense that the children, like the adults, can retire to their own private world.

This home, by architectural firm Hedgpeth Architects, offers just such a self-contained world to its youngest occupants. The entire upper floor is designed as their domain, including two boys' rooms, their interconnecting bathroom, and a separate girl's bedroom and ensuite. There is also a study and massive walk-in closet or playroom with appropriately down-sized custom furniture.

"A long access corridor runs along the internal side of these rooms, allowing the opposite sides to achieve maximum light and unimpaired views to the wooded grounds," says Hedgpeth. "We designed the spaces so the daughter's bedroom would have a slightly removed air. It is on the opposite side of the corridor to the boys' bedrooms. In turn, the boys' rooms are connected by an elbow-shaped double bathroom, giving them a private, almost secretive space of their own."

Other elements woven into the architecture and interior design of these rooms are the Belgian-born mother's European sensibilities of tradition and delicacy, and the father's love of the land and the bold American pioneering roots. The latter is seen in the strong, exposed elements of the home.

Interior designer Marie Cohen created the soft finishes for the home, while fellow designer Julian Cohen was responsible for much of the hard furnishings, including the grand four-poster bed in the girl's room and some of the rooms' cabinetry. Julian Cohen says that these contemporary, custom pieces reflect the father's rural American roots. Marie Cohen sourced pieces from France or in the French style that reflect the mother's European origins, including the antique curved corner cabinet in the girl's bedroom.

"Even whimsical childhood elements reflect these themes," says Marie Cohen. "A subtle seaside theme in the double bedroom, for example, might be equally at home on the French coast as inland in the United States. Likewise an understated natural theme in the daughter's bedroom and bathroom reflect the owners' love of the natural world beyond the windows, without becoming overtly feminine."

Story by: Trendsideas