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Outdoor Living
They’ve brought the outside in. Now homeowners want to bring the inside out with outdoor living spaces.
CONSTRUCTION: ANCHOR DESIGN & POOL,
EARTH & STONE
TEXT: LAURIE KAISER
PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: PATRICK WISEMAN
When this Boston couple purchased a vacation home on Cape Cod 10 years ago, after renting for several years, they decided pigs could fly. So the house earned the name, “The Flying Pig.”
“I used to say, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to have a vacation house on Cape Cod?’ and my husband would say, ‘When pigs fly’,” the homeowner explains. “Well, pigs are flying all over the place now.”
The home’s new outdoor kitchen—her husband’s idea—is the latest installment in this dream. “I call it my little paradise,” she says. Despite being in a densely populated Sandwich neighborhood, the space is “really very secret and private.”
According to Michael Takach of Earth & Stone, who installed the outdoor living space, outdoor kitchens are becoming the latest must-have on Cape Cod. “Living and vacationing on Cape Cod focuses on the outdoors,” Takach says. “Extending the home to include outdoor living spaces allows the true allure of Cape Cod to be experienced.”
Takach thinks this trend will continue. “Building outdoor living spaces is the future for hardscape construction and home design,” he says.
The Sandwich project began with the homeowners’ desire to replace the brick decking and aluminum coping for the existing pool with a more seamless look. They decided this would be a good time to create the outdoor room they envisioned. So they consulted with Anchor Design & Pool, the Dennisport company that installed the vinyl-lined pool 15 years ago.
“The homeowner provided us with some detailed drawings of his concepts,” says Anchor’s Thom Kearns. “We came up with the scope of the overall project and then brought in Mike Takach.”
The outdoor living space includes not only the kitchen area and heated pool—which the homeowners converted to salt-water, thus eliminating the need for chemical treatment—but also a state-of-the-art spa, various seating areas and a shingled pool house with bathroom, changing area and bunk beds.
Anchor called upon Earth & Stone to work on the project’s hardscaping, which included Blu Verde granite decking and steps, Altoona stone walls, as well as the entire kitchen area, featuring a Lynx grill surrounded by Seafoam granite countertops and a small under-counter refrigerator.
Now the homeowners have plenty of room for outdoor entertaining. In fact, as the three-month project was just wrapping up last summer, the couple hosted a family gathering for 32.
“It’s been very convenient,” says the homeowner. “It’s relatively low maintenance, and it’s just a joy to be out there.”
Project Overview
Budget: $225,000
• Create space for outdoor entertaining
• Build an outdoor kitchen
• Revamp pool, decking
• Add spa
• Build pool house
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Takach thinks this trend will continue. “Building outdoor living spaces is the future for hardscape construction and home design,” he says.
The outdoor living space includes not only the kitchen area and heated pool—which the homeowners converted to salt-water, thus eliminating the need for chemical treatment—but also a state-of-the-art spa, various seating areas and a shingled pool house with bathroom, changing area and bunk beds.
