Cedar timber-frame pavilion with stone columns and outdoor kitchen beside a lit pool at dusk - Mom's Design Build

Cedar & Stone

Carver, MN

Completed 2025

JPG2025-NARI_RotY-MINNESOTA-ResidentialDetachedStructure_GOLD-CLR

“This is amazing! I like that even though the poolhouse is adjacent to the home due to site restrictions, it still was designed to fit in. The wood arch in the front of the pool house is carried through to the stone on the back side. Nice work!” – NARI

Cedar & Stone is a stunning new pool house and landscape design for the ultimate summer retreat for a busy family with three boys. Bluff setbacks prevented a backyard build, so the pool house was thoughtfully placed to the side of the home, creating a private, sunken oasis.

Featuring a dramatic arched entry, vaulted ceilings, and stone accents that echo the home’s new exterior color palette, the structure houses a bathroom, changing room, outdoor kitchen, and shaded lounge. With ample dining and entertaining space, this elegant design blends functionality and style. A new roundabout driveway was added to allow room for the design.

Accompanying the poolhouse is a pool boasting with water features, a poolside fire table, extra large hot tub, and a wood-burning fire pit set away from the pool area. Cedar & Stone is giving luxury at its finest.

Before & 3D Rendering

Rendering - Landscape Design in Minnesota - 3D Rendering - Mom's Design Build

TA-DA!

Behind the Design

Design Notes

Before

A newly purchased property, three boys, and a plan: a pool, a pool house, and a summer where nobody asks for a screen. One problem — bluff setbacks made the obvious backyard build impossible.

The Idea

Move the pool house to the side of the home and sink the whole scene 30 inches below the driveway — instant privacy, with a full-height stone wall shielding the pool from the road. A dramatic arched entry leads to a vaulted hall under a multi-tier chandelier, changing room on one side, bath on the other.

After

Hand-crafted cedar arches echo the home’s mountain-lodge bones, Kasota limestone tops the outdoor kitchen, and the shaded lounge holds the whole family plus the neighbors. Underused side yard, now the center of summer.

The Brief

—A custom pool with a real pool house — bathroom included
—A screen-free summer retreat for three boys
—Serious entertaining space after years of a small backyard
—A compact outdoor kitchen and a shaded lounge
—A refreshed exterior palette for the whole home

Materials & Craft

Hand-built cedar arches
Kasota limestone counters & custom vent covers
Fieldstone veneer privacy wall
Board-and-batten interiors
Milk-glass lighting & basin sink

The sunken oasis

Pool and pool house sit 30 inches below driveway level — a cohesive, private world, with the redesigned driveway and roundabout solving the setback math.

Arches, handcrafted

The cedar arches were templated and built on-site, materials hand-picked to minimize seams — old-world charm earned the slow way.

Stone that matches the house

A full-height fieldstone privacy wall mirrors the home’s veneer, and even the vent covers and outlet backplates were custom-cut from Kasota stone.

Everything in its place

Symmetrical along its axis: pool centered on the pool house, kitchen and lounge flanking it, an outdoor shower on the exterior wall so nobody drips through the changing room.

The hard part

The bluff setbacks that killed the backyard plan became the design: relocating the build beside the home meant re-engineering the driveway, sinking the site, and holding the whole composition symmetrical anyway.