A Resort-Inspired Pool House
April 22, 2020
Text by Lisa H. Speidel    Photography by Robert Benson Photography
The homeowners had just one major requirement for their new pool house and pool: it had to be done by Memorial Day. It was, indeed, a tall orderâto go from backhoes to backstrokesâwith the holiday weekend only eight months away.
Despite the hasty turnaround, Stewart Skolnick was undaunted. In almost a decade of working with the homeowners on their seventy-acre gentlemanâs farm in Washington, his team at Haver & Skolnick Architects had checked off numerous projects: converting a barn into an entertainment area, building a new 12,000-square-foot stone house, designing a 6,000-square-foot garden, renovating a guest house, and constructing a post-and-beam barn to house cars. âThis was the last piece of the puzzle,â Skolnick says, âand we had complete artistic freedom.â
His vision for the pool area was precise. Since the familyâmom, dad, and four kids in their late teens and early twentiesâuses the property as a weekend and summer home, the pool house, he reasoned, âshould be a vacation from the weekend home.â He sought to contrast the main house, both in terms of the architecture and the landscape.
Skolnick designed a simple saltbox clad in weathered siding with a natural cedar roof and copper overhangs. The glass panels facing the pool retract, creating a porch-like setting and fostering a social connection. Whether soaking in the spa, swimming laps in the pool, lounging on a double chaise, or pedaling the Peloton, âeveryone is visually connected,â explains Skolnick.
Lush banana plants and tall grasses further the illusion that the family is vacationing in a faraway land, and the outdoor shower even simulates a waterfall in a tropical rainforestââand thatâs not easy to achieve in Connecticut!â jokes Skolnick.
The get-away-from-it-all vibe continues inside with a blue, off-white, and orange palette that conjures the Caribbean. Meanwhile, limiting the materialsâthe floors and counters are bluestone slabs; the ceilings, walls, and cabinets are white-washed pine boards; and the light fixtures and hardware are antique, oil-rubbed bronzeâto keep things contemporary.
As for that tight timeline: âThe coffee table arrived at 10 a.m., we placed books and artwork on it, and the client came at 11,â says Skolnick. He had thought of everything else, tooâfrom stocking sunscreen to rolling the pool towelsâto make the family feel as if they had been transported to a five-star resort.
Project Team
Interior design: Haver & Skolnick Architects
Builder: Churchill Building Company
Landscape design: Haver & Skolnick Architects and Wesley Stout Associates
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