Lakeside modern home with multi-level wood deck, grill, hot tub, stone steps and flowering plantings - Mom's Design Build

Excelsior Escape

EXCELSIOR, MN

Completed 2023

Excelsior Escape Regional Award - Mom's Design Build

Wood-framed house under construction with exposed framing, sheathing and dirt site on a sunny day - Mom's Design Build

Modern home at dusk with elevated deck, stone retaining walls, steps, hot tub and lawn - Mom's Design Build

BeforeAfter

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TA-DA!

Behind the Design

Design Notes

Before

A brand-new lakefront build on a tight lot: a 50-foot shoreline setback, a bluff you can barely touch, close neighbors on both sides, and a steep drop from the upper level to the water.

The Idea

Let the deck flow downhill. Its steps widen into open seating at a synthetic turf terrace — the owner’s yoga retreat — where a movable firepit sits precisely on the sightline where deck meets water horizon.

After

The hot tub hides in an inlet of the house itself, steps from the basement door, its access vault disguised as a stair tread. Cable railing keeps every view clear, black IPE decking keeps it modern, and Starlight granite walls hold the one flat stretch of lawn the kids claimed for play.

The Brief

—Take full advantage of the lake views
—A hangout close to the upper deck
—Privacy from tight neighboring lots
—True indoor-outdoor living
—Grill, hot tub, and firepit for entertaining

Materials & Craft

IPE black decking
Stainless cable railing
Starlight granite retaining walls
Bluestone landings
Synthetic turf yoga terrace

Steps that become seats

The custom deck stairs widen and open at the turf level into an expansive seating edge — one gesture handling circulation, gathering, and the transition from architecture to landscape.

The hidden hot tub

Tucked into a niche of the home for privacy and year-round access, with a hinged vault door built into the top step for maintenance nobody ever sees.

The horizon firepit

Placed at the turf’s edge exactly where the view lines up with the water — and left movable, so the yoga lawn stays open.

Flat, against the odds

A French drain runs beneath the sod parallel to the hot tub vault, swallowing bluff runoff so the final grade could stay level for play.

The hard part

The lake owns the first fifty feet: all hardcover set back, only stairs and landings allowed in the bluff impact zone, and decks and walls counting against the total — which is exactly why they were woven into the design as usable space rather than fought.

🏆 NARI 2025 Remodeler of the Year — Regional Winner · Residential Landscape Design & Outdoor Living