Our Focus series shines the spotlight on the details: the extraordinary materials, spaces, and ideas that take great projects to the next level.

When architect Sonya Lee signed on for the full-scale renovation of a 1930s Tudor-style house in Forest Hills, New York, the clients gave her an extra creative challenge: turn the dark, unfinished attic into a whimsical children’s playroom. “They said, ‘Just imagine what two little kids would like,’” Lee recalls.

The previous owner of the 3,750-square-foot home had converted about half of the attic to a bathroom suite, but left the remainder raw, unfinished, unheated, and uncooled. Though it was lit only by dormer windows built into the roof, the space had a cathedral-like, 14-foot pitched ceiling.

Lee didn’t want to cut off the dormer light with partitions, and she sought to keep the floor as open as possible for play space. In the end, she carved a nook into the wall for reading or napping, and suspended an indoor tree house from the rafters.

“We just thought, ‘Let’s create a little space for them to daydream—to be kids,’” Lee says. The tree house also “kept the ground completely clear, which enables the kids to roller skate or project movies on the wall.”

Constructed from birch plywood by Jon Cole of jcolestudios, the tree house is festooned with portholes. And indeed, there’s plenty of floor space left—near the opposite wall, there’s even room for a swing.

Although they were completely supportive of the tree house, the clients did wonder what to do with it when their son and daughter (currently 12 and 7) are older. “You could put in a desk, and suddenly it's an office, right?” they say. “You have this wonderful, cozy little space where you can get away.”

After it was installed, the homeowners were thrilled. “He was enamored,” the architect recalls. “He was like, ‘This is a really special space.’ It’s a place for them to daydream, and to be kids, and to encourage their curiosity.”

More Focus stories:

A Firm Cooks Up a New Kitchen With $38K and a Dash of Midcentury Magic

In London, a Dramatic Blue Stair Amps Up the Allure of an Actor’s Apartment

This Wisconsin Lake House Is Sheathed in Tiles Made of Post-Industrial Waste

Project Credits:

Architecture: Sonya Lee / @sonyaleearchitect

General Contractor (House Remodel): Sigma Contracting

Builder (Tree House): jcolestudios