Kid-friendly design: one family's tips for creating a multipurpose bedroom

Sunset, May, 2004 by Mary Jo Bowling

Ursula and Brian Beatt realized that their small Manhattan Beach, California, home needed more space to accommodate sons Colin and Bailey (now 12 and 10, respectively). They added a second floor, creating two bedrooms for the boys. Ursula believes that kids need places to play, build, and create. She organized Bailey's room, shown here, around a set of red-painted furniture that she was given as a child, complementing it with yellow and white walls and olive green fabric.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

ARCHITECTURE: Michael Eserts and Grant Kirkpatrick, KAA Design Group, Los Angeles (www.kaadesigngroup.com or 310/821-1400)

RELATED ARTICLE: Kid's room essentials

Raising two boys has helped Ursula Beatt develop a list of must-have features for children's bedrooms.

* Extra beds. The family is always ready for sleepovers. Bailey's room has a daybed, and Colin's has bunk beds. "When a friend wants to sleep over, I don't have to scramble for pillows and blankets," Ursula says. "If you are pressed for space, you can use trundle beds."

* Areas for display. No great building-block edifice need be hurried or destroyed in the Beatt household. Colin and Bailey both have special tables where they can work on projects from puzzles to Lego castles. Once a masterpiece is finished, it can be moved elsewhere for display.

* Expanded work surfaces. Ursula created a freestanding desk/art station by installing two bookshelves on the back of a desk. This makes the workspace larger and puts reference materials at her sons' fingertips.

* Simple fabrics. The covering for the daybed is a flannel sheet, selected for its color, softness, and durability.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LISA ROMEREIN