Design Ideas for a Luxury Pool House

A custom pool house can turn any regular day into a vacation. It brings style and fun to an ordinary pool day, plus it can be multi-functional, ranging from a guest house to a kitchen. Creating a stylish pool house means combining various elements to create a space that is the perfect escape. To achieve your backyard lounging needs, get inspired by the following pool house design ideas.

Poolside Bar
Building a bar inside or connected to the pool house creates a space to gather, lounge and entertain without moving locations. Including a refrigerator and enough room for cocktail prep will let you prepare the perfect poolside refreshments. In addition, creating a bar with a casement window and outside counter seating will allow you to spend additional time outside and will let you sit at the bar for a drink and a snack while drying off—a perk that is especially helpful with kids.

Ample Storage
Being creative with storage solutions creates both a functional and stylish pool house. A pool house should have enough space to store all the pool toys, accessories and beach towels. Adding a crawl space or small attic to your pool house design plans will give you a spot to store more significant pieces of equipment year-round. 

For items that you need to be easily accessible, such as beach towels, add plenty of shelving options, whether it’s an armoire or built-in shelves, to store towels for you and your guests. Also, have several baskets positioned where guests can quickly drop their used towels in to avoid wet towels on the floor and furniture.

Durable Materials
Nothing in a pool house should be precious. All materials should be low-maintenance and stand up to heavy use, from the flooring to the upholstery. Travertine tile is a selection for pool house flooring that stands up well to water. Another option is to extend the decking material from the pool area into the pool house. Natural fiber or indoor-outdoor rugs are also smart picks for water, shoes and indoor-outdoor use. Durable upholstery on the seating options, such as Sunbrella, will hold up to wet bathing suits and heavy use.

Doubles as a Guest House
A pool house that doubles as a guest house gives your friends and family a private place to stay when they’re visiting, and serves as a functional pool house when you don’t have guests. A bedroom, bathroom and kitchenette will turn this space into a comfortable, gracious space for whoever is visiting your home.

High Ceilings
To make up for the small square footage, vaulting the ceilings will create the illusion of more space. In addition, the high ceilings will create an open, airy atmosphere and will help the house feel more spacious.

Retractable Glass Doors
If you want to enjoy the best of both worlds—the breezy outdoors and enclosed structure—install retractable glass doors that will allow you to choose when you raise or lower them. For example, you can raise them for mild weather days and lower them if it’s a scorching day, plus you could benefit from the air conditioning or if you plan on lounging in the pool house during the winter months.