Minnetrista Lake Escape

MINNETRISTA, MN

Completed 2023

TA-DA!

Property Serviced by Mom’s Fine Gardening

Behind the Design

Design Notes

Before

A newly purchased Lake Minnetonka home with a freshly renovated interior — and a lackluster backyard dropping steeply to the water, hemmed in by bluff lines, lakeshore setbacks, and strict impervious-surface rules.

The Idea

Work with the grade instead of against it: build the firepit patio into the existing elevation so a natural path terraces from the side yard into the living space. Then use the rulebook creatively — a wooden “patio” with quarter-inch gaps doesn’t count against hardcover, and the hot tub tucks tight to the house to live inside the setback.

After

A sunken hot tub in an ipe surround, a frameless glass railing fastened to the deck fascia so the lake view runs unobstructed, a custom half-circle ipe bench that lets everyone face both the fire and the water — and a second-level overlook deck that added usable space without spending an inch of hardcover.

The Brief

—Update the decking and railing
—A firepit hangout and a sunken hot tub
—Level ground for lawn games
—Landscape lighting throughout
—Cozy for family nights, big enough for hosting

Materials & Craft

Ipe hot-tub surround & custom half-circle bench
Frameless glass railing
Terraced patios
Custom basalt column post lights
Pervious paver driveway

The grade is the design

The firepit patio is built into the existing elevation — grill, loungers, and fire all a few steps apart along one natural terraced path.

The hardcover loophole

Gapped, un-dried wooden deck surfaces don’t count as impervious cover — so the overlook deck and wooden patio added living space the lot technically didn’t have.

Glass on the fascia

Setbacks forbade a bigger deck, so the frameless glass railing mounts to the deck fascia with added blocking — no posts, no frames, no lake lost.

The half-circle bench

A custom ipe arc at the firepit lets you watch the whole of Lake Minnetonka and the people around the fire at the same time.

The hard part

Lakefront rules at their strictest: impervious-surface caps, a lakeshore setback pinning the hot tub against the house, and a bluff line nothing could disturb — every feature had to be argued into its exact spot.