Elevated Entertaining

SHOREWOOD, MN

Completed 2023

The main level of this home has a beautiful wood-panel pub that led to a deck that was barely big enough for a grill. The clients wanted to open the room to a much more substantial deck to accommodate larger gatherings and integrate the indoor and outdoor living spaces while preserving privacy from the neighbors.

The new space needed to offer relief from evening insects and untimely showers, but also extend the outdoor season and add direct access to the yard. The roof line was low and the side yard setback restrictions dictated that the new structure could not extend beyond the side of the garage.

So, the designer created a complete solution with a tall, mechanically-louvered pergola, disappearing screens, a line-of-sight fireplace wall, glass bifold doors and an open deck that wraps around the back of the house. While it extends the pub’s black and brown tones, the project achieved the clean contemporary look the clients desired.

Property Serviced by Mom’s Fine Gardening

Behind the Design

Design Notes

Before

The main level held a beautiful wood-panel pub — which opened onto a deck barely big enough for a grill. The clients wanted real gatherings out there: indoor and outdoor living joined, privacy from the neighbors kept, and the season stretched past the bugs and the rain.

The Idea

One complete machine for outdoor living: a tall mechanically-louvered pergola, disappearing screens, a line-of-sight fireplace wall, glass bifold doors, and an open deck wrapping the back of the house — all fitted under a low roof line and inside a side setback that stopped at the garage wall.

After

The pub’s black and brown tones carry outside now, the screens vanish when the evening is kind, and the deck holds the crowd the old one never could — clean, contemporary, and exactly what they asked for.

The Brief

—A deck sized for real gatherings, not just a grill
—Indoor and outdoor living integrated — with privacy kept
—Relief from evening insects and untimely showers
—A longer outdoor season, and direct access to the yard

The louvered roof

A tall, mechanically-louvered pergola opens to the sky or seals against the weather — the season-stretcher the whole design hangs on.

Screens that disappear

Disappearing screens handle the mosquito hour, then vanish — protection without ever reading as an enclosure.

Fire in the sightline

A line-of-sight fireplace wall anchors the view from inside the pub, tying the two rooms into one.

Doors that dissolve the wall

Glass bifold doors fold the pub open to the wraparound deck — the indoor-outdoor integration made literal.

The hard part

A low roof line and side-yard setback restrictions meant the new structure could not extend beyond the side of the garage — the entire solution had to be tall, not wide.

🏆 NARI Best in Show · NARI Gold Award · NARI Minnesota Remodeler of the Year Awards