Small rooms, big imagination | The Press

Architects are used to being inventive. You could even say that creativity is part of their job definition! One of the challenges they face is to design playful children’s rooms, which fit into uncluttered adult environments. We present two projects where this task was taken up with flying colors, for both young and old.

To play hide and seek

Sacha and Téo, one in childhood, the other at the dawn of adolescence, each have a room designed in the same way, one next to the other. And the two brothers appropriate it each in their own way according to their very different ages.

Above all, it should be noted that their house in the Rosemont district, in Montreal, is not like the others. They occupy with their parents the ground floor of a plex, which they also share with another family, installed on the floor above. A spiral staircase connects the two apartments as well as the shared basement. They are seven to live there, without forgetting the dog and the cat!

The lairs of Sacha and Téo, the only two children in the household, are located back to back, facing the large corridor that separates their rooms from that of their parents. “The idea was to make furniture that could grow with them,” says Marie-Eve Lamarre, architect at the Suwa studio, who designed the residence.

Perched high up, the beds run the entire width of the room, as they include a small platform at their foot that creates a reading corner.

Under the beds is integrated a small space to play hide-and-seek. At least, that was the plan. “There is a cabin below, but it becomes more storage,” says the architect. Indeed, the space under the bed had originally been designed to accommodate games of hide and seek, with the swarm of children they imagined coming to visit.

But life wanted it otherwise, notes Mistaya Hemingway, the boys’ mother. “We thought the children would play together, but in the end we didn’t have any children coming because it was the pandemic. So we sort of missed that step and we didn’t have the hide-and-seek effect we thought. »

Never mind, if Teo is outgrown for these games, Sacha is right at the age to have fun. Now that the friends are coming back and the laughter is starting to roar again in the big house, these little cabins are once again becoming points of interest. Hours and hours of fun to be expected… even if the outcome of the game is, precisely, a little predictable, laughs Téo. “When we play hide and seek, it’s always the first place children choose! »

Little mouse holes

Bunk beds are old as the world. But those that Alain Carle designed for this house in Baie-d’Urfé make you want to go back to childhood more than ever!

Located one above the other, slightly offset, the beds form two recesses in the wall, with a half-moon opening. “The idea was to have like two little mouse holes”, illustrates the architect, whose team has been practicing for a short time under the name Atelier Carle. Like little surprise corners in an otherwise very white and refined house.

The owners, a young couple very involved in the renovation of their residence, wanted their son’s bedroom to be a continuation of the rest of the house.

Indeed, why should the child’s room be different from other rooms? Just by its design, it stands out for its playful atmosphere. Their son can invite friends there, make a small playground, in short, have fun there as he sees fit.

Entirely unrecognizable today, the house was originally a suburban bungalow, which stood on its land with no real connection to its surroundings. In order to take better advantage of the brightness, the living rooms have been fitted out in the old garage, facing south, and which therefore benefits from a maximum degree of sunshine. Today, interesting plays of light can be seen in all the rooms.

The little one’s bedroom represents the rest of the house well, entirely in shades of cream and white. A coating of tadelakt has been applied to the walls to give an interesting texture. For the rest, it is the inhabitants who give life to this unique dwelling that stands out in the landscape of Baie-d’Urfé.