Design Project: Three Girls – One Room (Part 2/4)

Last week we started a bedroom re-design for three little girls. We met the clients and defined the wish list: 1. Three separate mattresses so each child would have their own bed. 2. A place for reading. 3. A way of personalizing each girl’s space. 4. A room that would bridge the age gap. 5. The style had to be appropriate for the girls as they grow. 6. Incorporation of recent professional photographs taken of the girls.

The first step is to identify a floor plan that will accomplish these goals. This is tricky since fitting three twin mattresses into one room is a challenge.

I have drawn the room onto graph paper and cut out twin mattress size rectangles to try out several scenarios. There are fancy computer programs and online resources for floorplans, but I like the old fashioned way. Here is my low tech version: My first idea was to line the three mattresses up underneath the three windows. But as you can see there is not enough room. The mattresses are too wide and wouldn’t allow for walking space. To allow for more walking space I have arranged two mattresses on the long wall and one mattress across on a shorter wall. While the space is good around the beds, I don’t like the amount of floor space in the middle of the room this takes up. There would only be about 3 feet of walking space between the three mattresses. This is enough space functionally, but I think it would make the room look crowded. Since one of the room goals is to provide space for reading bedtime stories and the beds take up a lot of floor space, I thought putting the beds against the wall and creating a daybed/couch might work. I tried placing the mattresses in several different ways, but the length of the walls just weren’t working toward the cause. It just seemed awkward. In the above arrangement I was thinking of building a corner piece that could be upholstered for both corners and used as storage/headboard. While discussing all the options with the clients, they decided they would rather not have any of the mattresses directly under the windows. We also decided that instead of using the girl’s beds for reading, a sectional couch should be incorporated. How are we going to fit all that in this room? Here is the floor plan that we chose: The three mattresses will be pushed together against the long wall (large rectangle on wall “A”) and made up as one very large bed. On the opposite walls (labeled “D” and “E”) a sectional couch will be placed for reading and cuddling. Next week we will continue the story because right now you may be thinking that this is all a little crazy ¦