Who’s ready for summer? Although spring just arrived, we can’t help but think of sunny summer days spent outside doing our favorite activities. We’ll be ready for the pool in no time, which brings us back to our pool house. If you read our last post about the pool house, we talked a little about why we’re building one, what it will look like, and then we described some of the interior and exterior finishes.
To refresh you from our “Planning Our Pool House” post, What Do You Put in a Pool House and Our Pool House Interior Finishes:
What Do You Put in a Pool House?
Our pool house is designed to look like a miniature cottage-style farmhouse, but with cuter details. The exterior will match the exterior of our Four Gables, complete with the same standing seam silver metal roof and Hardiplank siding. The pool house will have charming details: window boxes, a small weathervane, and double french doors with vintage-style screen doors on top. The entrance will have a sweet little portico with a vaulted ceiling painted the same blue as the porch ceilings in the main house. We took it a step further and included a tiny kitchenette with open shelving, a two-burner cooktop, microwave, and the icing on the cake…a full-sized Smeg retro-style fridge. With a small banquette tucked in one corner and a little seating area in the other, guests can also help themselves to a drink or a snack while taking a break from the heat.
Our Pool House Interior Finishes
Choosing the style of the pool house was very simple since we wanted it to be a smaller version of our main farmhouse with a cozy cottage feel. Simple white shiplap walls and wood-look porcelain tile will keep the interior cool and fresh. With a footprint of only 12’ x 14’, we packed a lot of function into a small space! Our custom cabinets and open shelving will be painted the same Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace, and we chose the same Caesarstone countertops in Pure White that we have in the main house.
A Retro Cottage Farmhouse and Shabby Chic Cottage Look
Since that first post, we narrowed down some of our selections and created a couple of different looks (stay tuned to our Instagram to help us make our final decisions). The first look is one that I’ll call Retro Cottage Farmhouse, and the second is Shabby Chic Cottage. Retro cottage farmhouse is a “throw-back” look and still very classic. Shabby chic cottage as you probably know, is more romantic with florals and lace. Both fit well with cottage and classic farmhouse styles.
Pool House Lighting
Choosing lighting for the pool house is more than just utilitarian. We want the pool house to be a sweet space where you can take a break from the sun, and we want our lighting to reflect our style. After searching a number of sources, we narrowed our choices down to crystal chandeliers and pendants (shabby chic), and Barn Light pendants with a cool white tulip chandelier (retro). Click here for the Barn Light kitchen pendant (color is Delphite or Yellow) and here for the bathroom hanging pendant (color is Blush Pink). Click here for the tulip chandelier (color is bright white). We love this chandelier, and plan to tint the tulips a pretty color if we choose this one. Click here for the shabby chic pendant over the kitchen sink (globe and housing is white and the band is Jadeite or Delphite), and click here for the chandelier (color is chrome with clear crystals). Click here for the bathroom hanging pendant (color is antique white with clear crystals).
As we mentioned, we want our lights to be stylish and beautiful as well as functional. Because the pool house is air conditioned, we don’t need to worry about lighting that is recommended for damp areas. That could be a consideration if you live in a humid area and don’t have air conditioning. We are carefully considering the mood and feeling we want to create inside the pool house (relaxing but cheerful), so our lights need to fit not only the style, but also the atmosphere.
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Pool House Appliances
We know we’re having a full-size Smeg refrigerator/freezer, whether we go farmhouse retro or shabby chic. We’re thinking of either pink or yellow for our retro style and are on the fence for shabby chic. We could do pastel green, pastel blue, pink or white. We’d love your opinion!
We have already selected a small two-burner electric cooktop in white for convenience. The only other appliance we need is a standard white microwave oven.
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Pool House Furniture
Furniture is a tricky one that took some thought. We need the furniture to be pretty and comfortable, but also accommodate wet swimsuits without worry. We need a small round table in the kitchen area with two chairs, and a small round end table and two 32- inch wide chairs for the little sitting area.
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Here are our pool house furniture options:
| Retro Farmhouse Style | Shabby Chic Style |
| Tulip table (30” round white) Serena & Lily Riviera outdoor chairs in Atlantic | Round table with 2 cafe chairs (will spray paint white) OR Sunnydaze outdoor cafe set (can spray paint white) White lace tablecloth |
| Ballard Designs Ceylon Lounge Chairs (2) (white-washed with Canvas White Sunbrella cushions) Serena & Lily outdoor gingham throw pillows (2) | Lloyd Flanders All-Seasons wicker lounge chair in white (Canvas White Sunbrella cushion) Will need to find shabby chic floral outdoor pillows |
| Hayneedle Sierra round side table (comes natural; should we paint? Blue to match the pillows?) | Shabby Chic round side table from Amazon (white) |
| Accessories TBD | Accessories TBD |
Until next time…