The first thing you notice is the light. It moves across the timber overhead, catches the broad glazing and drops onto a round table placed where the garden and pool remain in view. The pool house was designed as an addition to the home rather than a separate garden building, and that decision shapes the entire room. Large windows keep the space open to the water and planting outside, while the vaulted ceiling in wood gives the interior its height and clear structure.

Large glazing facing the garden and pool

The pool house reads as a place for sitting, eating and lingering, not only as a support space beside the swimming pool. Along the window line, a lounge area sits close to the glass, so the view stays present from several angles. The openings are generous enough to let the room feel connected to the garden, yet the interior still holds its own through the timber ceiling, the stone surfaces and the measured layout. It is a pool house with large windows, but also with a distinct interior rhythm.

A fireplace is set into the composition and adds a strong focal point without taking over the room. Nearby, the bar wall brings together natural stone, wood and built-in storage. Wine climate storage is tucked behind the counter, ready for bottles of wine and champagne. A smaller wine bar in the corner is finished with marble, including an integrated ice bucket that sits flush with the surface. These details keep the room practical, but they also sharpen the lines of the space.

Vaulted timber overhead

Above the table, the wood vaulted ceiling is the element that gives the room its presence. The structure is visible, but never heavy. It frames the seating area and pulls the eye upward before returning it to the long view through the windows. The timber softens the harder surfaces below: stone, plaster and glass. Because the ceiling rises so clearly, the pool house can hold a full dining setting, a lounge corner and the bar without feeling crowded.

The round dining table sits beneath a statement pendant with glass globes, which throws a warm pool of light across the tabletop. That shape matters here. The curve of the table interrupts the straight lines of the room and answers the arched openings elsewhere in the interior. In the same sightline, the bar cabinetry and the lounge by the window keep the plan visually open. The vaulted ceiling does not merely lift the room; it helps the whole arrangement stay legible.

Built-in bar cabinetry and the small wine corner

The bar zone is one of the most detailed parts of the project. Vertical wood panels form the backdrop, while open niches break the surface and create places for glassware and objects. Below, the built-in bar cabinetry continues the line of the room and keeps equipment out of sight. The stone counter has a crisp edge, and the metal tap is set into the composition with little visual noise. In the corner, the marble wine bar introduces a smaller gesture, almost like a pause inside the larger plan.

This part of the pool house shows how storage can become part of the architecture. Wine climate storage sits behind the bar, rather than being treated as a separate appliance zone. The bottles disappear into the built-ins, so the room stays focused on the table, the fireplace and the windows. When the bar lights come on, the wood grain reads more clearly and the stone picks up a softer tone. The space is still direct, but it gains depth from the layering of these surfaces.

A ground floor shaped by wood and stone

The pool house links naturally to the rest of the ground floor, where the material palette becomes quieter and more domestic. Smoked larch appears in the entrance and living room. In the custom kitchen, natural oak sets a lighter note. Across both areas, grey travertine runs through the floor and ties the rooms together without drawing attention to itself. The result is not a showroom effect; it is a sequence of rooms with the same material discipline, each one tuned to a different use.

Bronze accents appear in the details, especially around the custom furniture and the tall cabinet walls in the television and living areas. Curtains fall in soft folds beside the windows and temper the hard lines of the stone and joinery. The kitchen and living room each include a fireplace, placed according to the owner’s wish. Seen together, these rooms extend the atmosphere of the pool house into the house itself, but each space keeps its own scale and surface.

Custom joinery that carries through the rooms

The joinery does a large part of the visual work here. Full-height cabinets anchor the living spaces, while the kitchen pieces sit more quietly against the travertine floor. The smoked larch and natural oak do not compete; they mark different parts of the plan and make the transitions readable. In the living room, the tall storage walls give the room a strong vertical edge, which echoes the height of the pool house nearby. The house feels composed through these repeated lines rather than through decoration.

Looking back from the pool house, the project is defined by a few clear moves: a vaulted timber ceiling, large windows, a bar wall with integrated storage, and a ground floor finished in wood, stone and bronze. Nothing is overstated. The materials do the work, the light changes the surfaces through the day, and the rooms remain open enough to connect one to the next. It is an addition that changes how the ground floor is used, while keeping the architecture easy to read.

Photography: Cafeine / Thomas de Bruyne