Harriet Haven

Minneapolis, MN

Completed 2023

Behind the Design

Design Notes

Before

A blank-slate backyard behind a home in mid-renovation near Lake Harriet — and a family who wanted it to become the magnet for their two daughters and every friend they had.

The Idea

A Caribbean resort in Minneapolis, staged on an axis: the 13-by-30-foot pool centered on the sliding doors so the whole scene wows from the front door, ringed by Ipe decks, a swing-bed pergola, and dancing deck jets.

After

Stadium steps under Cortona stone coping, a hanging lounge bed drawing the eye across the water, six luminous planters glowing as night falls, bistro lights in the oak — and a ground-level trampoline hidden neatly behind it all for the family’s young gymnasts.

The Brief

—A backyard magnet for two daughters and their friends
—Upscale Hamptons-meets-Caribbean: water, casual luxury, fun
—A scene that wows from the moment you walk in the front door
—Play space that works in any weather — including a trampoline

Materials & Craft

Ipe hardwood decking
Cortona stone pool coping
Premium artificial turf
Hanging lounge bed
Luminous planters on dusk timers
Phantom porch screens
Bluestone rug-inlay walkway

The axis

The pool is centered on the home’s sliding doors and rear window wall, so the resort scene lands the instant you step through the front door — the move that made it an ASID Show House.

The hanging lounger

A round hanging lounge bed on the far pergola deck draws the eye across the pool — and neatly conceals the ground-level trampoline behind it, set perfectly flush for safety and looks.

Turf that earns it

Premium artificial turf between pool and lounging deck doubles as a tumbling run for the family’s gymnasts — it drains fast, defeats digging dogs, goes green the moment the snow melts, and never needs mowing.

Light as atmosphere

Bistro lights in the oak, six luminous square planters by the pool on a dusk timer, step lights in the Ipe decks — the party atmosphere switches itself on every night.

The hard part

An ASID Show House deadline with painters, sliders, A/V, and landscape crews stacked in one tight space — the deck was built around the pergola posts, sharing footings to save cost and sequence, with a drone keeping watch over the choreography.