This charmingly bohemian apartment, is every urban parent's dream. Designed to foster work, play and family bonding, the loft was created by combining two adjacent units on a high floor in one of Battery Park City's best buildings. The combined unit is strung along the western elevation of a LEED certified building with all the primary living areas orient toward Hudson River views. The "mom-in-residence", Kelly, grew up in sunny Santa Cruz California, a colorful beach town known for its outdoor lifestyle and playful boardwalk. Her goal with this renovation was to recreate the back yard she grew up with for her whole family, but in an urban context. INC developed each area of the home to provide a unique series of environments that organize the different activities of the household. Areas are dedicated to playing, climbing, reading, craft projects, piano practice, sleeping, dancing, and homework. All visual design cues evoke and blur the lines between indoor and outdoor experiences. “A lot of my idea of ‘home’ involves the outside,” Kelly has said. Birch tree trunks occupy the dining room, while the "tree house" is surrounded by a birch forest of wallpaper. The craft room is lined in reclaimed barn wood. A cartoon tree grows in the little girls’ room. The playfulness of California design culture and the the Santa Cruz boardwalk are big influences here. Bright greens, azure blues, weathered surfaces, and vintage wall coverings all evoke the southern California of a halcyon childhood.