Lakeside Living

ORONO, MN

Completed 2023

These clients wanted to connect their new kitchen bump out to the outdoors via a sheltered area that would block bugs and rain but not the view of the lake below. The NARI member contractor exceeded those goals with a design that actually makes the lake appear closer and seamlessly integrates indoors and out. It even expanded cool weather use with strategically placed heaters and a large fire table. The project features an operable pergola with motorized screen walls and architectural columns over a bluestone patio.

The client says it’s a lovely place for open-air naps. “With the wall of Loewen doors open and the pergola screens down, our house has never been so open. We love the design and the final product. We definitely would hire the company again and recommend them,” she said.

Property Serviced by Mom’s Fine Gardening

Behind the Design

Design Notes

Before

A new kitchen bump-out with a lake below it — and no way to sit outside without surrendering to the bugs, the rain, or the long sloping lawn that held the water at arm’s length.

The Idea

Replace the wood deck with an elevated bluestone patio raised to the interior level — a move that visually shrinks the slope and makes the lake appear closer from inside the house. Overhead, an operable louvered pergola with motorized screen walls decides, hour by hour, whether this is an open terrace or a sheltered room.

After

With the wall of Loewen glass doors folded open and the screens down, the house has never been so open. Three overhead heaters and a gas fire table carry damp evenings, the louvers shut themselves in rain, and the downspouts vanish inside the pergola’s architectural columns. The clients call it a lovely place for open-air naps.

The Brief

—Connect the new kitchen bump-out to the outdoors
—Shelter from bugs and rain — without losing the lake view
—Comfort on cool, damp days
—Direct access down to the lakefront yard

Materials & Craft

StruXure louvered pergola
Phantom motorized screen walls
Bluestone patio & solid bluestone steps
Fond du Lac stone retaining wall
Loewen folding glass doors
Gas fire table & overhead electric heaters

The patio that moves the lake

Elevating the patio to the interior floor level diminishes the long sloping lawn — from inside, the lake reads closer than it ever did from the old deck.

A roof with opinions

Motorized pergola louvers with integral gutters close automatically in rain; oriented perpendicular to the house, they stream natural light indoors when open.

Walls that disappear

Phantom screen walls descend from above for buggy evenings, then rise to merge the sheltered room with the open patio for big gatherings.

Columns doing secret work

Downspouts from both the house and pergola roofs run hidden inside the architectural columns — runoff managed, sightlines clean.

The hard part

Turning a sloping lakeside lawn into a broad entertainment terrace meant trading the wood deck for terraced stonework — a radiused Fond du Lac retaining wall flanking solid bluestone steps that walk the property down to the water.