His and Her ... Bedrooms
In a lengthy trend piece in yesterday's New York Times, architects and builders attempted to coin a name for the kind of house that includes a pair of big bedrooms. In houses with a single big bedroom, these rooms are sometimes called the master bedroom or the master suite. But now some wealthy couples don't sleep together anymore. (Think the Dick Van Dyke Show with a wall separating husband and wife.) An interior designer in St. Louis likes the term "owners' suite." Dale Mulfinger of SALA Architects suggests this name: "How about couples' realms?" When I interviewed Mulfinger, pictured, for a Building Minnesota radio report last summer, we talked about cabins, not his and her bedrooms. I wonder how one might accomplish such an architectural feat in a small space up north.