Tim Courlas
When homeowner Anna Wells and her husband built their Dublin home almost a decade ago, they left the basement unfinished for their sons to use as a playroom. However, the family is originally from Texas and felt that having a pool was important to them, so after living comfortably in their home for a few years, they went ahead and put one in.
But there was one problem: their property wasn’t conducive to building a pool area around it. Killing two birds with one stone, the Wells converted their 2,200-square-foot lower level basement into its own pool house.
Mark Huffman, of the interior architectural design and décor firm Huffman and Huffman, along with Samuel and Jennifer Teitt of The Bellepoint Company, were put to the task of making this sweeping change. Although he has designed many lower levels, Huffman has never been challenged with creating a pool house environment but loves the finished product.
“I love how the aesthetic overall carries throughout all the spaces in the lower level,” Huffman says. “I think it’s really successful.”
The Wells also found the process rewarding.
“It was really enjoyable for us. We heard lots of horror stories with people renovating, but Mark is very professional and he listened to exactly what we wanted,” Wells says.
The design process alone took around six months and the physical transformation took several months as well. Wells says that she and her husband have very different styles, but they found a way to bring the two together in a relaxed, uniform space.
Tim Courlas
“We wanted simple, not really ornate, but comfortable and clean,” Wells says. “We liked the fact that (Huffman and Huffman) would narrow things down and understood what our tastes were.”
The space is simple yet modern with a consistent style that permeates each room. Wells cites the wallpaper and the custom shower doors as some of her favorite design touches, while the beams across the ceiling add an element of symmetry that appeals to her husband’s taste.
“We knew that bright colors and too much activity on fabrics wouldn’t work for them. They wanted things to be more calm and subtle, smooth and clean. We went from there,” says Huffman.
The pool house theme is incorporated into everything from the flow to the fabrics. Huffman chose indoor-outdoor furniture, tile floors and a floor plan that was designed around the flow of pool traffic, as Huffman’s firm specializes in laying out the architecture of whatever space they are working with. There are multiple places for the Wells boys and their friends to get ready to go swimming, including an innovative use of the empty space under the stairs as a changing room.
Tim Courlas
The space also serves a lot more purposes than storage, changing areas and easy pool access. The design also incorporates a home gym with its own bathroom, multiple seating areas, a kitchen, a bar area and a laundry room. Wells says she loves using the space to have friends over, hold coffee meetings for school functions, and spend time as a family.
Even though the family hails from the Lone Star State, incorporating this splash of summer makes their Dublin home feel just like that – home.
“When you’re sitting there and you’re looking outside at all the trees and the pool,” Wells says, “it’s like a postcard.”
Brittany Mosley is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
