Architectural Arts offers a wide range of luxury baby furniture built with your child's safety and happiness in mind. This page displays examples of children's bedroom furniture, including two armoires, a dresser, and a cradle.
This beautiful cherry armoire with walnut accents was made for one year old Sophia, as part of a series of solid wood baby furniture I have created. Luxury baby furniture has some wonderful advantages. Not only will Sophia have use of it throughout her life, but she can pass it down to her children as well. The armoire has a number of unique design features that make it child, as well as adult friendly. The built-in xenon lights in the curved, cantilevered top have a 3 way dimmer that is controlled by a nearly invisible touch switch on the side of the unit (it didn't take Sophie long to discover that she could work it as well.) All of the edges of the armoire are rounded to mitigate collisions. The door slides from side to side making it easy to open without bumping into walls or toys left on the floor. It also features a quarter inch thick tempered glass panel (40 times stronger than single strength window glass) with a sandblasted rose pattern. The shelves on the right side are as deep as the armoire and are mounted on full extension drawer glides. Each shelf has high sides and a removable divider. This allows the front half of the shelf to be used for books and the back half to be used for general storage. The hanging section of the armoire has two adjustable clothes bars. As long as Sophia is small, both bars can be used to hang her dresses, pants and coats. As she gets older, the bars can be adjusted so she can reach them, and eventually one bar can be removed altogether to allow for longer garments. Architectural Arts builds armoires for a variety of purposes, including jewelry armoires, TV armoires, and custom entertainment centers.
This is Luke's dresser. It is custom designed and is as child friendly as you can make a piece of children's bedroom furniture. The dresser is made from a single piece of 3/4" birch plywood. The drawers were cut from the same single piece and allow for less that 1/16" spacing around their perimeter. There is no joinery on the front of the cabinet. The drawers were cut out and then placed back into the spaces they came out of. Each is mounted on a full extension drawer glide. All of the exposed plywood edges were covered with 1/8" thick cherry edging, added into the wood to maintain the integrity of the birch face. The top is solid maple, curved to match the base, and has a mahogany inlay in the front. The two doors in the middle of the dresser allow for additional storage.
This beautiful armoire was made for Rowan, who was just a year old at the time. It is an example of my heirloom childrens furniture that has no problem making the transition into adulthood, and can even be passed on to succeeding generations. This piece is made from birch and northern hard maple. Its obvious Asian influence doesn't detract from the practicality and functionality of the piece which makes it ideal for a child or an adult. At the top of the 8" deep, full extension drawers, is a small cabinet with a removable shelf. The closet on the left side of the armoire has 2 hanging bars to accommodate the smaller space needed for childrens clothes. As Rowan get older, the lower bar can be easily removed. All of the edges of the closet and drawer unit are protected by the softly rounded and contoured legs that support them. One of the interesting design features of this armoire is that the functional center of the unit is suspended from the top of the armoire and appears to float between the 4 graceful legs of the armoire.
This is Ava's armoire. It is made from solid and veneered birch. The top and bottom are evocative of Chinese motifs, but the main part of the armoire is all business. I like to put dresser and armoire drawers on full extension glides where possible. I find that most people appreciate the convenience of having access to the entire drawer. Additionally, they are safe for children, because the drawers cannot be pulled out until the glides are individually unlocked. Luxury baby furniture is an investment that can last generations.
This piece of solid wood baby furniture is Rowan's cradle. It is based on an antique cradle that is on display in the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock. The original was crafted by a furniture designer living in New York in 1835 and is made from mahogany. I made this one from solid cherry which actually gives it a little more cheerful feel than the original. The tall turned spindles at each corner serve a dual purpose: they allow the parent to easily rock the cradle, even from the very high beds that were popular in the 19th century. Secondly, they support the mosquito netting that was necessary, even in the finest homes, in the summertime! This cradle, as well as all of the furniture I make, is protected with a super hard, water based, non-toxic, environmentally friendly finish.
Architectural Arts also produces a number of handmade furniture, such as custom beds, custom entertainment centers, custom wood desks, and china hutches.
