Projects

This Hamptons poolside garden reinvents the typical pool deck as part of an extensive outdoor expansion to the country home that strives to blur the lines between built and natural materials, complete with new nodal spaces for lounging, recreation and dining. A new paver-pebble path provides a pathway around the house, as well as to a new outdoor shower conveniently sited for trips back from the beach. At the rear of the house, a new custom pool fence with overhead arbor delineates the newly-expanded bounds of the hardwood deck, functioning both an armature for the growth of ornamental vines to envelop the space, as well as a physical barrier to deter visitation by hungry deer. This enlarged deck footprint allows also many opportunities for seating, sunbathing, and even the creation of a new hammock corner. Outfitting the space with vegetation, two flowering dogwood tree specimens perforate the deck as natural accents seamlessly emerging into the built oasis. At the east end, a raised bed kitchen garden is lush with various culinary herbs, veggies, fruits, and a lettuce rotation from spring through fall. A matching pair of espalier fruit trees – a self-pollinating apple and pear – flanks the outdoor dining set and adds a classical touch to this unique edge of the garden. Perpendicular to this arrangement, a blueberry hedge beckons summer and fall users to enjoy fresh berries right off the branch, and on the other side red and green grapevines colonize an overhead portal.

To the west of the pool, an airy and welcoming pergola with angled rafters activates this outer corner of the deck and creates a spacious and comfortable gathering zone out of the sun. There users can enjoy lounging on the built-in sofa, chaise, and daybed under the cover of vines, and feel as though they are in an entirely different space with the surrounding pine grove, while still retaining sight lines out to the pool activities beyond. As a final complement back to the Mediterranean interior design of the country home itself, a series of hand-painted Portuguese azulejo tiles is inset along the pergola and stairwell risers to artistically evoke a memorable sense of place.