Sharjah Family Townhouse
A two-storey townhouse in Sharjah Sustainable City for a family of four. The parents asked for two things that often pull against each other: an elegant home, and children’s rooms with a character of their own, so each child feels the room around them belongs to them. Tohfa designed and built it, with storage worked into the walls throughout so the house stays calm, and it was completed in 2025.
The people
Two parents and two children. The parents wanted a refined home they would enjoy living in, and rooms where the children feel at home in their own way rather than in a scaled-down version of the adults' taste.
What mattered
- Children's rooms with a character of their own.
- An elegant home that still works for a young family.
- More storage, without heavy cabinets on show.
- Living and dining that feel generous and full of daylight.
The design response
Each child’s room was given its own character from the same set of materials. One has a hanging swing seat by the window, floating shelves for books and arched relief panels behind the bed. The other has a pale blue panel, arched shelving with a lit niche and a long study desk with drawers, beside a fluted oak panel framing an arched mirror. The arches, soft lighting and pale palette repeat in the rest of the house, so the children’s rooms feel their own without looking apart from the home.
Downstairs, panelled walls, cove lighting and walnut-lined shelves frame a calligraphy artwork in the sitting area. A grid of black-framed mirror runs above a long stone-topped cabinet, doubling the light from the garden and hiding storage below. In the master bedroom, sage green panels with fern-print insets sit behind an arched headboard, and a floating dressing counter with a glass-fronted tower keeps everything to hand.
Details worth noticing
A swing under the book shelves
A cushioned swing hangs on rope below the floating shelves, with floor cushions on a round rug by the window. It gives the room a reading corner that is the child's own.
A dressing counter that stores
A floating walnut counter with a stone top, drawers below and a lit glass-fronted tower beside the mirror. Everything has a place, and nothing sits on show.
A desk to grow into
A long desk with a bank of drawers, set against fluted oak and an arched mirror. It works for drawing now and homework later.
A townhouse that reads as one elegant home, where each child has a room with its own character and every room has the storage it needs. The house was completed in 2025.