Lake Wellington Cabana Project

This project included the design and construction of a pool cabana with an outdoor living, dining, and entertainment area with a large fireplace and exposed timber framing.  This backyard is built for entertaining!

There were a few challenges that made the design and layout of this pool cabana tricky.  The homeowner wanted to have beautiful views of both pool and cabana from the home’s interior, they wanted convenience to cooking and entertaining areas, and they wanted to maximize shade and breeze throughout the day.  Pool accessory storage and a guest restroom and changing area are also included with entry tucked away nicely on the back side of the fireplace wall.

The homeowner’s original plan had the pool centered in the backyard and the cabana as a pool accessory to the south.  This would have put the outdoor dining, living, and entertaining areas farther from the back door.  The structure would have blocked the predominant southern breeze.  We made some adjustments to the building design, relocated the pool, and carefully placed the structure to accomplish all the homeowner’s objectives.

Our collaborative plan centered the cabana structure on the existing back patio with three open gables facing north, west, and south to maximize shade and breeze.  We used the fireplace and walls of the storage and restroom as a visual backdrop that added privacy from neighbors.  The gable height was specifically placed low enough to block the west sun and let the peak be seen from indoors while not so low that it made the structure feel small and clash with the scale of the existing home.

The materials and colors were selected to match or harmonize with the home while a minor change was made to the existing home to help each of the design materials blend well.  We replaced the existing porch ceiling with a dark bronze soffit and fascia in order to give the dark stained cedar beams a complimentary material and color on the home to partner with.