This Pool House Doubles as a Guest Retreat

“The shed-roof form not only matches the roof form on the main house’s primary bedroom suite and an outbuilding, but it also sheds rainwater away from the pool terrace,” says architect Peter Twombly of this Hingham, Massachusetts, pool house.

Bluestone pavers were “part of the initial project vocabulary—stitching different parts of the landscape together,” says landscape architect Joe Wahler. The lawn is turf-type tall fescue.

To match the nearby garage and workshop, the architects clad the pool house’s exterior in red cedar. “It is a durable decay-resistant material,” says Twombly, who adds that the cedar is protected by a clear sealer from Seal-Once.

“Design-wise, it had to mimic and complement their house, which was designed first, many years ago,” says interior designer Sarah Scales. The sofa and side tables are Blu Dot, while the side chairs and dining set are from Design Within Reach.

The armchair is an outdoor piece from Varaschin’s Summer Set Collection, while the sofa converts into a bed for overnight guests. To the left of the gas fireplace, those same guests will find a hidden Keurig for their morning jolt

At the request of the homeowners, the architect designed a metal door that rolls down to protect the kitchen cabinetry and appliances, including a Sub-Zero refrigerator, from, say, a nor’easter.

The bathroom’s shiplap-inspired walls are crafted from concrete, so they are waterproof, while the floorboards are teak.

“We wanted to do something different for the accent wall, so we chose cross-shaped concrete tiles that are handmade in Morocco in the colors the pool reflects,” Scales says of the bathroom.

To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, no matter how much you love and cherish your houseguests, in about three days’ time, they will inevitably, like fish, start to smell. Unless, that is, your property includes the ultimate guest quarters, separate from but equal in comfort to your main house.

So it’s no wonder that one Hingham, Massachusetts, family set out to build a pool house that would do double duty as GuestHQ. Comfort and hard-wearing materials were paramount but so was a serene feeling that wouldn’t clash with the family’s own digs.

“We didn’t want it to match, exactly, but speak the same language,” says interior designer Sarah Scales. Case in point: the exterior cedar walls. “Since the pool house is a dark color, we felt it would recede more into the landscape as opposed to painting it white to match the main house, which sits directly across the yard,” says architect Peter Twombly. “Dark-colored doors and windows were used for the same reason.”

Another priority: access to sunlight, recalls landscape architect and Stimson principal Joe Wahler, who has been working with his clients on their parcel of land since 2012, when they initially built the swimming pool and surrounded it with Japanese cedar, white pine, arborvitae, and hemlock. “We worked with the owners to plant a diverse mix of understory flowering trees: redbuds, dogwoods, and witch hazel,” says Wahler. “It’s quite amazing.”

But it’s the hidden comforts and artful touches that really make the pool house feel like home. All the furniture is upholstered in fade-resistant outdoor fabrics that can stand up to everything from persistent sun to “kids in wet bathing suits with popsicles,” Scales says. Rather than sourcing artwork from a gallery, the homeowner commissioned artist Alyssa Fortin to photograph her children in the swimming pool; those nine images hang above the convertible sofa.

The best part of the pool house, though, may come from the feeling that you don’t have to choose between the indoorsy or outdoorsy lifestyle. “The living room’s sliding doors are quite big, and when they’re open, it’s as if you’re outside,” Scales says. There’s plenty of breathing room for houseguests and homeowners alike—and it’s close enough to the pool for the occasional cannonball.

Project Team 
Architecture: Estes Twombly + Titrington Architects
Interior design: Sarah Scales Design Studio
Builder: Gilman Guidelli & Bellow
Landscape design: Stimson