Some parents dream of sweet nurseries with pale blue walls, cradles swathed in gingham, and tiny rocking chairs. But others, particularly those with streamlined and modern New York apartments, cringe at the idea of such traditional rooms.

For parents such as these, Jenny Argie and Andrew Thornton, of the furniture line Argington, and textile designer Susan Steinbrock, create items for children’s rooms that urban adults can happily live with as well.

When Ms. Argie, a painter, and her architect husband, Mr. Thornton, had their son David, the couple looked for nursery furniture that met their criteria for good design. “We wanted well-made items with simple lines,” Ms. Argie said. “But everything we found was cheaply made or too cute, like it belonged in a farmhouse. We couldn’t find a single piece that appealed to us.”

Ms. Argie decided to design a high chair herself that would be comfortable for her son and wouldn’t look out of place pulled up to her dining room table. She sketched a clean lined wooden high chair; Mr. Thornton transformed her drawing into a functional piece.

That was two years ago. Now Ms. Argie, 34, is the principal of Argington, a company in Williamsburg that “creates children’s contemporary heirloom furniture.” Mr. Thornton, 30, oversees the furniture’s production. “The parents who buy our collection reject the idea that modern design is cold, and, like us, want their children’s rooms to reflect their own aesthetic,” Ms. Argie said.

Most of the pieces in Argington’s collection are curvy and playful but restrained – not surprising, perhaps, as Ms. Argie simultaneously cites both architect Antoni Gaudi and the Bauhaus movement as inspirations. Her Babylon Highchair ($230 retail) – part of her Seven Wonders line that includes wooden tables (about $170), a bench ($150), and even a sleigh ($1,350) – has an Amish appearance, but the rounded corners of its adjustable seat keep it childlike. The chair’s seat and footrest can be raised and lowered along a ladder like back, so that it will function from infancy through the teen years.

The designs that Mr. Thornton influenced, such as the Fuji Toy Box ($370), reflect his architectural background and penchant for ingenious details – the lid closes slowly so it can’t slam down on little fingers.

Next season, Ms. Argie will add a platform bed and a toy bin on wheels that are “more like Andrew,” she said. “More straight lines, less curves.”

The Argington collection is sold in children’s stores throughout the country, including Sam and Seb in Williamsburg (208 Bedford Ave., 718-486-8300), and Aero in SoHo (132 Spring St., 212-966-1500), as well as several online sites. In February, Ms. Argie exhibited the furniture at the New York Gift Show. “We just wanted to create a collection we liked. We had no idea we’d be part of a trend. The response has been phenomenal,” Ms. Argie said.

Parents who reject conventional children’s furniture aren’t looking for children’s bedding printed with Disney characters. For more sophisticated but still child-friendly quilts and pillows, hip parents turn to Susan Steinbrock Design. Ms. Steinbrock, 46, designs hand-painted linens that are carried by a number of children’s retailers. “So much of the bedding for kids is mass-marketed, or, if it’s hand-crafted, it has a homespun, cottage like feeling. People really like my colors and the fact that each piece is one-of-a-kind,” she said.

In her comfortable Brooklyn Navy Yard studio, the painter-turned-textile-designer swirls fabric dyes into circles that resemble Japanese umbrellas, or pulls long strokes of her brush into blurry rectangles. For her children’s quilts, Ms. Steinbrock pairs the painted cloth with a vibrant patchwork top. (Baby quilts retail for about $140, twin-size for $300, queen for $470, and king for $520). She machine-stitches each rectangle of the quilts, using old Hawaiian shirts, dresses from the 1960s and ’70s, and funky table linens culled from this self-confessed, “flea market junkie’s” collection. Ms. Steinbrock isn’t afraid to throw a pop of bright orange into a sea of blue, and unless a client special orders an item in baby blue or pale pink, it would never occur to her to work with such muted tones. “Color is my passion,” she said, citing the French painter Sonia Delaunay as her muse. “I’ve always worked with simple forms, and concentrated on color. I didn’t create the collection as a reaction to the blandness of the kids’ market, I just think children’s items should be exciting.”

Ms. Steinbrock’s bedding is currently on display in the gift shop at the Museum of American Folk Art (2 Lincoln Square Plaza on Columbus Ave., 212-595-9533) through mid-April. Her quilts can be found at Otto, a gift shop in Park Slope, Brooklyn (548 10th St., 718-788-6627), and in other children’s boutiques nationwide.

For more information on Argington, call 718-218-8508 or visit www.argington.com; for Susan Steinbrock Design, call 718-788-2602 or visit www.susansteinbrockdesign.com.