Playing Pool
a transformed landscape makes room for outdoor living
By Camille LeFevre
Photo by Peter Bastianelli Kerze
In 1994, architect Charles Stinson and his family moved into the Deephaven home he describes as “an urban cabin for open living.”
The 3,000-square-foot, pristine-white house, built by Streeter & Associates of Wayzata, is a signature Stinson design. Thin, vertical and horizontal planes compose a framework for open, light-filled living spaces. Wide expanses of glass are topped by bands of clerestory windows with panoramic views of the backyard, and framed by snug window seating.
Now, about that backyard: “A tangle of woods,” Stinson says, diplomatically. “A wild ditch,” adds his wife, Carol Eastlund, more accurately. In other words, for more than fifteen years, the backyard received little care or attention. “We hung a rope swing in a tree for Jessica [their daughter] and made a little strip of lawn where, if you were creative, you could play croquet, but it was risky,” Eastlund says. “My dream was to have a yard where we could play croquet.”
Young Jessica had bigger plans. One day, she put an empty jar labeled “Swimming Pool” on the snack bar, and began filling it with coins. “That got us seriously thinking about whether we could put in a pool,” Eastlund says, “but I couldn’t picture how much we might actually use it.” The answer: Almost constantly from May to October, as it turned out, which Eastlund realized last year when the family began enjoying their completed backyard sanctuary.
But that’s the denouement of the story. The three-year project started with the planting of 42 mature white pine trees (some16-feet tall) and almost as many locust trees (some 30-feet tall) to fill in and create privacy at the back of the property. Then came endless dump trucks of fill for the backyard and pool areas. By law, a fence at least 5-feet high must surround a pool, so Stinson “terraced up” the area with white stucco walls and metal railings.
To ensure the pool area functioned as a seamless outdoor-living addition to the house, Stinson applied his principles of architectural composition to its design. The horizontal railings around the pool echo those of the upstairs deck, and the rooflines of the house. The cabana’s tall, wide, vertical “fins,” which complement those of the house, also support another horizontal plane: the cabana’s flat roof.
Designed by Stinson and his son Jason, who is a builder, the cabana’s trellis-like roof is made of clear cedar slats that can be moved to control sun and shade, and are easily removed for cleaning. Clear cedar was also used to re-clad the underside of the house where three glass-walled bedrooms open out onto the pool area, and a new spiral staircase connects the outdoor-living space with the deck above.
Peter Bastianelli Kerze
Around the pool, Stinson designed a grid pattern of Fond du Lac limestone bands that also reflects the lines of the house. “Each one was custom cut and numbered so they’d fit together perfectly,” he says. Large pavers of white concrete and a simple boxwood hedge accent the limestone bands. “I was the landscape architect on this project, too,” Stinson adds.
He’s also the “pool-maintenance guy,” a job he says he enjoys because “it’s so peaceful in the backyard by the pool.” Because it uses saltwater, rather than traditional chlorinated water, the pool requires less weekly maintenance. “The water just has a faint salt taste, not like the ocean, and it feels like silk when you’re swimming,” he says.
Since the side yard and driveway were torn up from the backyard project, Stinson decided to add a “floating” stepping stone path of limestone and white concrete that leads from the new carport (which also houses a ping-pong table) down to the pool, and beyond to the backyard with lawn and firepit. “So we have different ‘play stations’ now all over the yard,” he says, “just like our own Four Seasons Resort.” The pine trees provide a sense of privacy and closure, especially at night when the family is gathered around the fire, “that’s Zen-like. Really heavenly,” Stinson says with delight.
It seems every member of the Stinson-Eastlund clan enjoys the space. On summer mornings, the couple can walk out of their bedroom, still in their pajamas, and have coffee by the pool. Two adult sons, Jason and Joshua, host poolside parties for their families and friends. And, the instigator of it all, daughter Jessica, used the outdoor addition for her high-school graduation party.
“At one point, Carol and I wondered if we should buy a new lot and build a bigger house,” Stinson recalls. “But we realized we love this house. We were just missing being outside and having an outdoor living area.”
“We also realized that with our kids growing up, everyone’s so busy and it’s hard to get together,” Eastlund adds. “Our backyard is now a sanctuary for family and friends. Everyone comes and hangs out all weekend in the summer. We really do enjoy it and share it.”
Camille LeFevre is a Twin Cities freelance writer.
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