- Location: Baton Rouge, LA
- Contractor: Audubon General Contractors
- Landscape Design: Ryan Cole Landscape
- Interior Design: Holden and Dupuy Interiors
- Photographer: Oivanki Photography
The owners wanted to transform their backyard into new indoor/outdoor spaces that would make the area more inviting and usable for family and friends. This was the missing piece in realizing the full enjoyment of their home.
The new design accomplishes this, starting with a new sunroom, by enclosing the patio and covered walkway between the existing keeping room and garage. The result is a light, airy space with accordion doors and casement windows that encourage cross ventilation, natural lighting, and easy access to the outside. Truss vaulted ceilings and a plaster-finished fireplace put the finishing touches to the feel of the room. Limestone openings leading to the keeping room make the space part of the original house.
A new side porch off the sunroom is positioned to frame a view to the courtyard and a pizza oven, drawing you into the new pool cabana. A space-defining transition occurs at the cabana where the flat, painted tongue and groove ceiling changes to a vaulted ceiling with exposed antique pine beams and rafters.
Once in the pool cabana, the ceiling soars upward with antique pine beams supporting exposed rafters and roof decking. The outdoor kitchen beyond features a custom-made black iron barbeque pit among other appliances with two strapped stainless-steel hoods.
In the evening, the pool cabana can take on various moods achieved by up and down lighting that is independently controlled along with a large fan creating a constant, cool soothing breeze.
The other side opens up to the existing pool in a way that makes it more inviting.
The secret to unifying this design with the house is the use of materials such as flagstone floors, washed brick, and antique pine exposed wood members throughout new and existing spaces.