ALLISON'S BEDROOM - Trebbi Custom Construction - Fort Lauderdale, Florida

comments (0) July 23rd, 2009 in Project Gallery

Ron Trebbi, Blogger

A few quick sketches and closet dimensioning revealed that standard base cabinets are the perfect size for hanging shirts, shorts, and pants, our “Hanging Lockers”. Locating our hanging lockers below the elevated bed platform gave us more hanging space than Mom had in her closet. Because a double bed was Allison’s choice, the depth of our hanging lockers resulted in a huge dead space between the backs of the lockers and the wall under the East window. This space, accessed by pulling out the rolling drawer unit, is perfect for items Allison has out grown (bags of stuffed animals she can’t quite give up) or other bulky items heavily used by this family, like ski clothes

Allison is an avid reader and like many like girls her age, has more books, dolls and stuffed animals than I thought possible. Many of the dolls were 3’-4’ tall collectables. They needed a special place in addition to ample bookcase space. Since floor space was at a premium, we decided on 12” deep cabinets for both the bases and bookcases surrounding the window. We used the same boxes to create a bookcase headboard behind the bed and for the cabinetry next to the bed. A grey and pink marble counter top salvaged from one of my residential remodeling projects found new life as the counter below her window.

White cabinetry gave us a lot of flexibility with the finished look. Allison and her Mom’s matching ‘resort style’ dresses were the inspiration for the bedspread, pillows and bed rail pickets. I sketched out the palm tree design and sent it to my friend’s sign shop. They cut the palm trees on their CNC router out of white PVC and I sliced up the left over pieces for the remaining pickets. To help tie the room together we used the palm tree motif with a fabric insert on the storage / stair to the bed and as raised panels for the door into her bedroom.

Seashell cabinet pulls from the Philippines complete the project detailing. Allison really liked two types and couldn’t decide on one so we ordered both. Paint? Pink, the standard color choice of all little girls? . We put a few samples on the wall to go with the linens and she chose. All the trim is Benjamin Moore, White, Satin Impervo. We toned the ceiling with 25% of the wall color

Ample day-lighting from the two large windows and a center light fixture provide general illumination for the bedroom. We built light valances across the tops of the bookcases out of the same 8” crown we used on one of my recent jobs. We installed low voltage, halogen, cabinetry lights and tied them into the existing home automation system. The lights are individually controlled and provide Allison with general lighting, reading and bedtime lighting scenes.

Allison’s bedroom is small in a 2 bedroom 1 bath house. Typically, vacation homes in Fort Lauderdale, in the 1950’s, had no closet space. A recycled dining room hutch served as Allison’s closet, bookcase and general toy storage bin. Allison was already using part of her mom’s closet and part of our job was to build Allison some closet space of her own. Being a small house, in this locale, and on a canal, I suggested that we think of her room like the stateroom on a yacht and try to maximize our use of the space.

After considering building or expanding her existing closet, the thought of built-in furniture occurred to me. My Architecture demons came out screaming “NOOOOO!!!” remembering all the bad built-in furniture from the 60’s and 70 we’d seen and studied in school. I got control of the Architecture demons and convinced myself that we could not only do a great project with the “Dreaded Built-ins” but design and build them in such a way that the space would grow with Allison and work for her until she went off to college … a short term type of timelessness

A few quick sketches and closet dimensioning revealed that standard base cabinets are the perfect size for hanging shirts, shorts, and pants, our “Hanging Lockers”. Locating our hanging lockers below the elevated bed platform gave us more hanging space than Mom had in her closet. Because a double bed was Allison’s choice, the depth of our hanging lockers resulted in a huge dead space between the backs of the lockers and the wall under the East window. This space, accessed by pulling out the rolling drawer unit, is perfect for items Allison has out grown (bags of stuffed animals she can’t quite give up) or other bulky items heavily used by this family, like ski clothes

Photo: Ronald G. Trebbi

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Renovate a small (10'-8" x 11'-8") existing bedroom in an 1,100 square foot, 1950's vacation house, into a flexible, multifunctional space with a unique identity for a 7 year old girl. The space should be capable of growing with her maturing tastes and functional requirements and be able to accommodate her through her high school years.

Provide badly needed storage space in an already small, storage deficient house. Storage required:

Books and art projects

Collectable Dolls

Stuffed Animals and toys

Bulk Storage

Folded Cloths

Hanging clothes

School work, backpacks etc

Shoes

Accomplish the above without occupying any of the existing closet, currently used by Allison's Mother.

Build an entire bedroom ensemble from a readily available, commodity, kit of parts. Furniture system to be 'Kid tough' and 'Kid safe' of low maintenance, high durability materials

Design and build a unique space for an only child, consistent with the design of the parents’ home, easily capable of changing with both the aesthetic and functional needs of a growing child.

Design or Plan used: My own design - TREBBI CUSTOM CONSTRUCTION - Ronald G. Trebbi, Architect