The porches attached to American residential architecture have evolved over the years.  We’ve all seen the trend of front porches virtually disappear as a secluded back porch has gained popularity. Whether you have no porch, one, or a wrap-around porch, the addition of an private porch area is an idea we’re all fond of. A pool house can be your first porch, an addition to your pre-existing outdoor area, and is made easier to access with a beautiful walkway.

Substitute a Porch Addition for a Pool House: No need to add the huge project of a front porch to your house if you decide on a backyard structure instead. Typically, guest houses and custom pool houses have both an indoor and outdoor area that can be put to good use. In fact, the indoor area can find functionality as a home office, exercise studio or as a storage space for outdoor entertaining and lawn/pool maintenance items.

Embellish the Feel of a Second Porch:  If you’ve already got a porch, a custom pool house of rectangular or hexagonal shapes can add a quaint porch space to your backyard that is perfect for reading on a porch swing, reflecting as your gaze at the birds, or even napping on some comfortable patio furniture without being exposed to the neighbors. If you’re into social gatherings, use it as the central point for entertaining by adding an outdoor bar.

Walkway the Line: Whether you use your pool house as a hideaway or a pivotal party piece, getting to it without thinking is the best way to make sure its purpose is utilized. With the accompaniment of a portable treated pine walkway or a permanent stone walkway you can design your retreat to be as accessible or secluded as you wish.

Guest houses can act as an extended or primary indoor/outdoor porch space detached from your house that doesn’t require the stress of a remodel to capitalize on the design of your yard.

Some folks see pool houses as just a simple structure for changing in and out of swimsuits.  But, though the name is focused on pools, its uses are nearly endless.   Most people who know the true advantages of pool houses see them as the perfect space for a home office, entertaining, outdoor storage, or as shelter from inclimate weather during your backyard gala. Truth is, pool houses make life easier in many ways – but more specifically, the separate area for entertaining behind your house is second to none in convenience and style.

Making Concessions: To begin with, a pool house shaped like the hexagon style guest house on your lawn can come equipped with a concession bar that may serve line drinks and snacks, even buffet-style meals for guests to enjoy libations and a tasty treat. The centralized location means no wandering for direction to a random table either. It’s height and separation from the home keeps entertaining fun and light.

Outdoor Stow Away Zone: In addition to the concession bar to keep energy levels high on cool nights or sun-drenched afternoons, a pool house provides your home with extra storage for pool toys, lawn games, outdoor dish ware for throwing parties, and extra patio seating, among other things. This separate storage area helps keep clutter down in your garage or basement, and allows for site-specific items to be easily taken out and put away.

Storm Shelter: Lastly, you don’t necessarily need a custom pool house to be set for all weather conditions. In fact, many pool houses come with attached porches to shield your guests from the occasional rain showers that may otherwise dampen the mood. An added benefit of the porch follows right into your house too, since you won’t have to worry about muddy, wet clothing entering through your house when the storm hits.

Pool houses provide your grandiose outdoor entertaining ideas with a central location where food and beverages, storage, and even shelter take the party into their own hands for a shock-proof approach to dynamite outdoor events.

Once reserved for the poolside soirees of the most elite, the pool house has really stretched its legs and expanded its reach.  A pool house is now perfectly at home in any backyard, large or small, even if there’s no water nearby.  Used for entertaining, relaxing and even working, the pool house can transition seamlessly to a functional extension of your home.

But, before you can gain the biggest potential out of your backyard pool house, you have to infuse some design sense into your structure.

Determine your Function: Before you can pick your outdoor furniture, you have to pick your function.  Are you hoping to create a party-central that will keep guests and entertainment centralized to one section of your home?  Having a backyard pool house for hosting parties will focus your cleaning and “prep” efforts to one place.  And, of course, after everyone goes home, all the mess will be in one spot as well!  Pool houses also do well as home offices, exercise spaces, game rooms, and even (most traditionally) as a place to change in and out of swim suits, grab towels, and store pool toys.  Whatever you decide, map out how you envision using your ideal space.

Design your Layout: It’s important to dedicate space before you start decorating.  What kinds of areas do you see being utilized within your pool house?  If you’re installing an indoor hot tub, be sure to leave plenty of room around it for climbing in and climbing out, as well as spots that won’t be damaged by wet feet.  Evaluate your square footage and be sure to maximize your space by mapping out your areas and not simply cramping too much furniture.  Start with the basics: a place to sit, a place to eat, a place to set down drinks.  Then, get creative and keep your main function at the center of every design decision.

Find your Fashion:  Once you have outlined the skeleton of your floor plan and layout, you can dive into colors, textiles, and textures.  To make a space look larger, color the ceiling a lighter shade than your walls and direct your color pallet toward light-hued neutrals.  For more drama, pick darker, more stark colors that will make immediate impact.  Mix soft, plush furnishings like mission style outdoor sofas and deep seating collections with harder surfaces like patio dining tables.  Keeping your colors and furnishings in balance will lend considerable comfort to the space.

Take a calculated approach to design and decorating to ensure you get the most out of your space.  Backyard pool houses can be customized for everything from meditation to poker night, so don’t let any pre-conceived notions of the structure attempt to hold you back!

Have Fun!

Hazel

Are you not sure what to do with a pool house if you don’t have a pool?  If you have a pool… are you still not sure if you’ll get enough use out of it?  Well, I’m here to tell you a pool house does NOT need a pool to be fabulous, and it can be used for plenty of activities!

1. Party Central- If you want the best backyard for get-togethers, parties, and barbeques… a pool house will definitely send you to the top of the list.  Pool houses include a concession window and bar that’s great for putting out drinks, snacks, pizzas, and goodies!  Plus, you can install a mini-fridge or microwave behind the window for quick prep and easy serving.  Imagine not having to constantly run between the kitchen and your party to get all the necessary supplies! Your guests will have a convenient and stylish place to grab some refreshments and you’ll be free to enjoy their company.  You can even design your pool house with an attached screened in porch and decorate it with a deep seating patio group, Adirondack chairs, and a porch swing.  That way everyone can come in and enjoy the evening bug-free once the sun goes down.
2. A Guest House- Neither you nor your house guests enjoy   the sofa-bed.  They feel like they’re intruding as they take up one of the family’s most used rooms; there’s no sense of relaxation with the constant and nagging feeling that they’re not only intruding, but lack a sense of privacy as well.  You hate quietly stumbling over the coffee maker or tip toeing around the room in fear that your morning commotion will wake your house guests.  The solution? A pool house.  Imagine having your own separate guest house with a screened in porch, windows, insulation, and electricity for your guests to retire to.  They’ll feel at ease knowing they’re not in your way, but won’t have to pay big for a hotel room that leaves them removed from your home.  And you won’t have to stay up wondering if your hundred pound dog is going to decide to jump up and lovingly (though they might consider it annoyingly) cuddle with them.  Your guests won’t feel like they “made it work” in your living room, they’ll feel like they escaped to a peaceful retreat!
3. Dressing Room- If you do have a pool, a pool house is incredibly helpful with the logistics that go into having such a great backyard watering hole.  Gone will be the days of dripping bathing suits hung from towel racks in your bathroom to allow puddles of water to sit on the tile.  No longer will your carpets suffer from little wet and dripping bodies scurrying through the house.  The days of wet towels starting to stink of mildew as they are buried at the bottom of the family hamper are over.  With a pool house, you can make sure all of the post-pool clean up happens before anyone leaves a watermark in your home.  Try setting up a pool shower with a privacy screen just outside the structure for people to rinse off and maybe even wash the chlorine from their hair.  Then, you can set up plenty of drying racks or clothes lines for wet towels and bathing on your porch.  Inside, throw in a Red Cedar Towel Valet and Hamper to keep clean dry towels in and a Modular Red Cedar Shelving Group for clean undergarments, shorts, and tee shirts.   Now, your family can go for a nice long swim, then shower, dry off, hang wet garments to dry, and put on clean, dry clothes before coming back into your home.  Sounds great, huh?
4. Good, Old Fashioned, Storage- If you have all kinds of outdoor furniture and décor, or even a heap of gardening and landscaping tools and equipment, you’ll need storage.  Most patio furniture needs to be stored throughout the winter to prevent damage, and garden equipment needs a safe and dry place to wait for you to use them!  A storage shed is great, but if you’re looking for a structure with a bit more aesthetic appeal, a pool house is a fantastic place to store out-of-season furniture or tools.  Plus, the optional attached porch will create a wonderful sitting area to enjoy as a bonus to your organized storage!  The other upside to using a pool house for a storeroom is versatility.  A shed can really only be used for one thing, but investing in a pool house now will free you up to use the structure as a guest house in a few years or to use as a party-station if an engagement or birthday calls for a big celebration.
5. A Fifth Room- A fifth room can literally be anything you want it to be.  An extension of your living space brought out into nature, you can create a home office, a personal hot tub spa, a meditation and exercise area, or an outdoor dining room.  A pool house will allow you to create another valued area of your home, with the solitude and convenience of being detached from the rest of the house.  There’s no reason your fifth room can’t be used for all of the above; a place to host parties, a spot for guests to stay, a private dressing area, a storeroom, plus a few more options!  Though a pool house may seem dependent on having a pool, it’s actually an incredibly versatile structure!

As I mentioned before, when it comes to backyard structures, pool houses are becoming extremely popular.  However, it must be understood that I’m not talking about just any pool houses, but, specifically, the ones that you’ll find at GazeboCreations.com.  These are the ultimate, not only because they combine the optimum features of other outdoor structures – that is, the beauty of gazebos, the storage capacities of sheds, and the convenience of cabanas – but because you can customize them right on the site.

All you have to do to get started is to click on the Custom Pool House Creator, then select the material that you want for your pool house – Dura-temp, pine, or vinyl – along with the shape, which can be a hexagon, elongated hexagon, or a rectangle.  Next, you’ll choose from a wide range of sizes, which are listed along with the base price and standard features for each. 

Then, you will be presented with a menu of options, including many siding and trim colors, decorative porch railings, finished interiors, insulation, screened floors, cupolas, sliding glass doors, double-paned windows, shutters, steel doors, ceiling fans, and several colors of shingles.  You may create as many pool houses as you like, submit them for quotes, save them to your own personal gallery, and change them as many times as you wish, until you have perfected the pool house of your dreams.

Another great thing about these pool houses is that they are so versatile and practical that you will get years of enjoyment and constant use out of them even if you don’t have a pool.  In fact, a pool house will make the perfect focal point for your backyard parties, as it will drastically reduce traffic into and out of your house.  You can set up your picnic table or outdoor dining set and grill nearby, and surround it with outdoor furniture, including Adirondack chairs, settees, and steamer chairs.  Because many of the pool houses feature attractive porches, you can also add some porch furniture, such as a swing or glider, and some accent tables. 

Oh, yeah, and don’t forget that GazeboCreations.com also has a selection of Tiki Bars that will go great with your pool house, or any other backyard structure.  Of course, if it gets a lot of business, that may increase the visits to your house. 

Yours Outdoors,

Kathy

Although they have always been familiar sights at public swimming pools and seaside resorts, over the past few years, pool houses have also been making big splashes in backyards across the country.  In fact, these outdoor structures are beginning to rival gazebos in popularity. 

Of course, by now, everyone knows that GazeboCreations.com is the best place to find gazebos; but we also have a great assortment of stunning pool houses.  One of the reasons that ours are in such high demand is that they are not only pretty, but thoroughly practical, even for people who don’t have pools, as our designs incorporate the best qualities of our other outdoor structures, such as gazebos, cabanas, and sheds. 

Like gazebos, our pool houses are attractive and available with tons of exciting options.  You can customize one right on the site, choosing from features such as finished interiors, screened floors, cupolas, sliding glass doors, double-paned windows, shutters, and steel doors.  We’ve also made it simple for you to design your pool house to complement your home, by giving you a huge selection of siding, trim, shingle, and shutter colors from which to choose. 

Our pool houses also have lovely porches that make them look like charming little cottages; and with all of the extras that we offer, they are frequently used as such.  As a matter of fact, people often install plumbing and electricity, and turn them into summerhouses, guest houses, home offices, play houses, entertainment rooms, and countless other things.  You can even put in a hot tub and create your own backyard spa. 

Like our sheds, these pool houses also have a lot of storage capacity, so they make great places to keep all of your garden tools, pool maintenance equipment, water toys, and more.  Of course, you can also use your pool house as a cabana where people can change into and out of their bathing suits. 

Oh yeah – and, remember, no matter how rustic, or how elaborate, you choose to make your pool house, CedarStore.com has the perfect porch swings, outdoor dining sets, and patio chairs with which to furnish it.  Do we make it easy, or what?

Yours Outdoors,

Kathy

These days, everywhere you turn, someone is getting a makeover and/or competing for some kind of prize.  In fact, these contests have becomes so widespread that they no longer involve only humans, as animals, and even buildings, are getting new looks.  That’s what’s happening now in the world of backyard structures, as they vie for the “Most Popular” title; and, among the contenders, the pool house is making a big splash. 

Although it has been on the scene for years, there is a new wave of interest in it, sparked by a spectacular makeover that has given the structure many extremely desirable new traits.  Now, besides being as practical as it is beautiful, it very deftly combines the best characteristics of its competitors, the gazebo and the garden shed.

Indeed, the pool house is not only as drop-dead gorgeous as a gazebo, but it is available with the same highly sought-after options, such as finished walls and ceilings, screened floors, cupolas, skylights, double-paned, shuttered windows, insulation, and steel doors. 

It also has quite an extensive wardrobe, which includes a rich, luxurious cedar coat, as well as vinyl siding in several luscious colors.  To top it off, the pool house also sports over a dozen colors of durable shingles, as well as a cedar shake roof, and accessorizes with eight shades of trim.    

Another of its many attractive attributes is its willingness to be seen in a less-than-glamorous role, as it performs all of the same duties as a shed, holding safe anything and everything that a person can to stuff into it, without losing its composure.  It also acts as the quintessential cabana, where people can change into and out of their swimwear.  Furthermore, just like gazebos and sheds, pool houses can be furnished with beautiful porch chairs, settees, lounges, and accent tables, and used year-round as spare rooms, guesthouses, home offices, entertainment rooms, or anything else that one wishes to make of them.

At GazeboCreations.com, you can customize your own pool house in a few, easy steps.  You can create as many as you want, dress them up any way you like, and save them to your own, personal gallery, where you can compare them side by side and choose your favorite.  As a matter of fact, you can do the same with their gazebos, sheds, cabanas, and sunrooms.  The best part of all is that, no matter which one you select, you’ll be picking a winner!

Yours Outdoors,

Kathy