Lower Level Escape

Excelsior, MN

Completed 2023

TA-DA!

Behind the Design

Design Notes

Before

A lower patio with potential and a problem: the clients wanted a year-round outdoor room, but any structure risked darkening the basement and the backyard has a public walkway flowing right through it.

The Idea

A louvered pergola set above the patio door — maximum ceiling height without blocking the main-level windows, louvers aimed to pour light into the basement, open in the shoulder seasons and sealed when the weather turns.

After

A solid roof shelters the hot tub, privacy walls screen the walkway, and the columns became a bar. Heaters, a ceiling fan, a swing, and EZ screens finish the room — open the wider new slider, drop the screens, and the basement gains an outdoor wing that works in January.

The Brief

—Expand the lower-level entertaining space for year-round use
—The feel of an exterior space with the comforts of an interior one
—Keep views open — never darken the basement
—Privacy from the public walkway through the backyard

Materials & Craft

Louvered pergola
EZ screens
Infrared heaters
Wet-rated lighting & ceiling fan
Paver patio & synthetic turf
Fond du Lac stone wall
Hot tub under solid roof

The light-first pergola

The louvered pergola sits above the patio door for maximum room height without blocking main-level windows — and the louvers are positioned to maximize light into the basement.

Columns into a bar

The structure’s support columns were claimed as a design feature and built out into a bar — nothing wasted, everything social.

Comforts of the indoors

Infrared heaters, wet-rated lighting, a ceiling fan, a swing, and EZ screens that open for a breeze or close to keep the heat — an exterior room with interior manners.

Patio to turf

The paver floor flows out to a synthetic turf space, with a new Fond du Lac stone wall cut in to make room for it all — and a wider sliding door to connect inside to out.

The hard part

Building a solid-roofed, screened, heated room against the house without stealing the basement’s daylight — solved by the louvered pergola’s placement and aim, so the new space and the old windows share the same sun.