Refined Living

EDINA, MN

Completed 2023

Refined Living Regional Award - Mom's Design Build

Rear of white board-and-batten home with upper deck and walkout lower level over a grassy slope - Mom's Design Build

Rear of white home at dusk with lit porches, stone retaining wall, steps and hydrangea plantings - Mom's Design Build

BEFOREAFTER

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TA-DA!

Property Serviced by Mom’s Fine Gardening

Behind the Design

Design Notes

Before

A dull, builder-grade deck on a tall house above the park — unlevel spaces, no privacy, and a railing that interrupted the very view it stood in front of.

The Idea

Rebuild the deck at the scale the house deserves: beefed-up posts wrapped in Azek that quietly swallow the downspouts, a screened lower level for bug-free privacy, and a louvered pergola above — flexible shelter, switched from inside the house.

After

Ipe decking replaced the cedar, stainless cable rail opened the park view back up, a Fond du Lac stone wall lifted the bluestone patio level, and infrared heaters stretched the season. Sleek black details answer the home’s windows — refined, exactly as advertised.

The Brief

—A deck that works across more of the year
—Less builder-grade, more beautiful
—Privacy below, views above
—Level, usable outdoor spaces

Materials & Craft

Ipe decking
Louvered pergola
Stainless cable railing
Azek-wrapped columns
Fond du Lac stone wall & bluestone patio
Cedar tongue-and-groove ceiling with EPDM

Scale correction

The existing deck and posts were beefed up to balance the height of the house — then wrapped in Azek with the downspouts concealed inside.

Two climates, one deck

Fixed screens make the lower level a private, bug-free room; infrared heaters and fans up top keep the open deck in service deep into the shoulder seasons.

The louvered lid

A louvered pergola flexes between sun and shelter — operated by switches inside the house.

Cable, not pickets

Stainless cable railing replaced the view-blocking original — the park returns to every sightline from the back of the home.

The hard part

No deck stairs meant no easy way up — the build ran on scaffolding, while the design balanced a tall house against a hillside by building off the home and integrating the landscape below.