32 Pool House Design Ideas

These relaxation-ready cabanas, pavilions, conservatories and pool houses will inspire your own poolside digs.

April 01, 2022

By: Carrie Hamblin and Jeff Stafford

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Made in the Shade

Every sunny backyard oasis needs a shady retreat. Welcome to the pool house! It can loom large or have compact charisma, accept style cues from the home or sport its own identity. In any form we like — house, gazebo, conservatory, cabana, pergola or pavilion — we can put whatever we want inside. Imagine an outdoor kitchen, bar, living room, guest space or even a studio. Whether for intimate lounging or social shindigs, the defining feature of this poolside pal is an accommodating personality. You've had your swim and soaked up your rays, so let's check out the ways to have it made in the shade.

Find More Ideas: 67 Dreamy Pool Design Ideas

Desert Oasis

A corrugated metal roof atop white painted beams and brushed concrete walls of varying heights create this enchanting dining area and outdoor kitchen for an Arizona hillside residence. Unexpectedly angular, the entire room seems to flow from the fireplace, with strategically placed bistro lights completing the illusion. Free of clutter and peppered with greenery, this inviting Southwestern outdoor room is ready for relaxation when you're finished making waves.

More inspiration: 15 Ways to Transform a Small Patio Into a Relaxing Retreat

From: BOXHILL

Deep-End Drama

Rising from the beautiful decking of the pool area, this modern pool house is architecturally enchanting. Barely offset horizontal cladding enjoys the shadow play from the pergola awning. A trio of large flagstones at the entry serves as a welcome mat to a private retreat behind pocket sliding doors. While its current use is as an outdoor lounge, it could be a sundrenched studio, a private meditation space, a yoga room or guest quarters.

See More of This Home: Contemporary Home Situated Between Mountains and Sea

From: Village Properties and Luxury Portfolio International®

Old World and Waterside

This lovely pool with flagstone decking is overseen by a mission-style cabana in stone and red tile built into a hillside. The castle-like accommodation includes a large fireplace flanked by built-in benches and accompanied by a weathered farmhouse table and torchiere wall sconces that offer their drama to the ceiling. The romantic design here feels both effortless and eternal.

More design inspiration: 40 Unique Paver Designs for Outdoor Spaces

From: Village Properties and Luxury Portfolio International®

Captivating Conservatory

A conservatory promises a sun-filled, climate-controlled spot for year-round enjoyment of the pool area. This graceful beauty is constructed of hardwood frames with an aluminum-capped roof, all painted white. With its prominent glass — including the multitude of French doors across the front of the house — the waterside conservatory can be entirely open to morning sunlight, gentle breezes and garden scents.

More design ideas: 20 Bright + Happy Sunroom Design Ideas

Not-Your-Parents' Pavilion

This ultramodern structure takes the pavilion sensibility and adds highly sophisticated stylings. From the dramatically lit tray ceiling to the warm ipe wood accents, this poolside space is all pizzazz. There's no reason to choose one: The sizable room accommodates both a fireside lounge and a full bar, overflowing into an outdoor kitchen. Call all your friends: this isn't a backyard to keep to yourself.

More inspiration: 55 Patio Bars + Outdoor Dining Ideas

From: Drew Sivgals

Picket-Fence Pergola

A low brick wall with slate-colored stone at the bottom offers both style and intimacy to this recessed lounge with an outdoor kitchen. Landscape designers chose an attractive white wood pergola to provide shade and further delineate the poolside space. The rounded outer wall incorporates bench seating inside and is interrupted halfway by a recessed firepit, ensuring cozy evenings to go with those California coastal views.

Try it: How to Build a Pergola

From: Torrey Pines Landscape Company

Good Golly, This Folly!

This California backyard turns to the East with an exotic folly constructed from reclaimed Balinese teak. Crowned with a pyramid roof of copper fishtail shingles, the wood structure's lovely louvered walls and carved corbels are festooned by hanging plants. A pair of stylish chaise lounges with chunky wood bases and substantial cushions welcome us for quiet repose after some gentle laps in the pool.

More inspiration: 18 Outrageous Outbuildings

From: NMA Architects

Raising Eyebrows

A traditional black-and-white pool house offers an expansive indoor space with outside — and outsized — charisma. The classy color palette of the exterior is accented with trendy half-round aluminum gutters, a petite pergola awning in wood and an eyebrow dormer window with decorative grillwork. Three sets of folding glass doors at the front welcome guests to a full bar and lounge inside, promising effortless entertaining for every pool party.

Now plan it: 50 Tips for Planning the Ultimate Backyard Get-Together

From: Odd Job Landscaping

Mid-Mod Madam

Homeowners chose a midcentury vibe for this perky poolside abode with a jaunty corner patio overhang and sloped roof. Pale siding in a shade of vintage green pairs perfectly with the bronze of the flat-roof patio and the lovely surrounding gardens, sprinkled with sculptures. Corner glass sliders allow copious light into the little house, naturally used as an art studio.

Get your own studio: 35 Amazing Shed Makeover Ideas You'll Want to Steal

From: Native Edge Landscape

Coastal and Cozy

The coastal contemporary vibe of this peaceful poolside pavilion is accomplished with textured fabrics in beachy colors like white, sand and turquoise. The structure itself is white wood, with square posts and a shiplap ceiling with exposed beams. Accommodating both a bar and a lounge, the room is ready for entertaining. But the romantic candle chandelier and tailored blue curtains await the private after-party.

More design inspiration: Outdoor Curtain Options

From: Anissa Swanzy

Rustic Retreats

At home on the range, an elevated wood pavilion is exactly what's needed in this family-friendly oasis. The warm cedar posts and steeply pitched roof give a towering-tree impression to a perfectly flat Texas backyard. The bricked rear wall ties the structure to the other hardscapes. A pair of tall armoires and a contemporary chandelier join neutral furniture accessorized with bursts of color to bring a cheery, casual feel to this open-air living room.

See More of This Home: Poolside Texas Backyard Made for Entertaining

From: FineLines Design Studio

Blue Lagoon Loggia

A picturesque loggia-inspired breezeway joins the two wings of this Mediterranean-style residence. It isn't simply a passage; we're invited to linger at this entry point to the central sapphire lap pool. A large fireplace creates an outdoor living room, and a grill station with a dining cluster ensures poolside refreshment.

More inspiration: Indoor Swimming Pool Design Ideas

Modernist Masterpiece

This ultra-chic poolhouse in a palm tree–populated garden gives new meaning to the term lofty. With room to lounge both behind its glass walls and on the covered patio, its exterior comprises variegated wood paneling and charcoal metal. Is it floating in space? This geometric wonder has an Escher aesthetic that will leave guests happily disoriented while sipping after-swim beverages on a cloud.

More inspiring design: Modern Mountain Architecture

From: EOLO A&I Design

Tranquil Tea House

White latticework and exposed beams join navy-colored walls and ceiling in this traditionally styled poolside structure with garden gazebo sensibilities. Royal blue cushions with white piping grace a delicate wrought-iron bench painted white, and chinoiserie ceramic garden stools offer accommodation for your refreshment: one for scones and one for tea.

Find More Ideas: 60 Best Patio Furniture Buys for Every Style and Budget

From: Ansley Atlanta Real Estate and Luxury Portfolio International®

Petite and Perky

With its cheery yellow door and steel awnings sporting tongue-and-groove cedar underneath, this diminutive pool house has a full-size personality. Let your friends hog the pool's Baja shelf loungers; there is ample space for reclining next to the firepit on the upstairs entertainment patio. Ready for refreshment? That's a grill waiting at attention in the outdoor kitchen on the side.

More inspiration: 40 Budget-Friendly Ideas for Small Outdoor Spaces

Waterside Chalet

This chalet-style pool house and its shapely pool harmonize like a fairytale duet. Swirled wooden pillars, decorative eaves and a metal roof crowned with a weathervane provide plenty of porch for after-swim relaxation or cuddling during a rainstorm. The storybook atmosphere is enhanced by the flagstone pavers with grass joints and a combination of vertical and ground-level gardens. Make sure you know the secret password if you want to enter through the wooden gate.

More inspiration: 40 Stunning Ways to Landscape Around a Swimming Pool

Swimming Pool Cues

This ultramodern pool house infinity pool adjacent adopts the primary residence's clean lines and sleek look. Inside, there's a kitchen and lounge as well as a game space, for a little pool after the pool. This contemporary vacation retreat strives for sustainability, too, with a solar pool heater and a solar chimney.

Learn more: Small Steps in Solar Power: Lighting, Generators and More

Palapa Paradise

A palapa with a daybed rests by the infinity pool at this exquisite hillside villa, allowing for horizontal repose in dramatically vertical space. Built into the wood-paneled wall behind it and with its simple gray posts and thatched roof, the palapa enjoys treetop views and is perfectly at home in its blissful surrounding gardens. The cascading water feature from the edge of the pool no doubt serves as the perfect lullaby.

See More of This Home: Majestic Hillside California Villa Blooming With Native Plants and Water Features

From: ZFreedman Landscape Architecture

Pier-Like and Peerless

You will swear you're lakeside at this rustic dock-style pavilion with a standing-seam metal roof, rough-cedar posts and beams, and a magnificent stone fireplace. The pair of chandeliers finish what the fireplace started, creating an ultra-cozy outdoor living room. Forget the comfy chaises: we'll be reposing next to the chimney to allow for toe dips in the water feature.

More inspiration: 25 Outdoor Lighting Ideas That Won't Break the Bank

Garden Party Ready

A lovely white pavilion creates an outdoor living room for this enchanting backyard oasis with a sea-glass-colored pool. The structure features a steeply pitched roof and the double pillars at the front are bridged in white latticework for climbing florals. The pavilion is open on three sides but feels enclosed by a carefully arranged container garden. A pair of pretty oval windows and a central lantern pendant join classic garden furniture with light-blue cushions on woven seats. With this charming and feminine pool garden, you'll be hosting the showers of everyone you know.

More inspiration: 45 Creative Ways to Add Backyard Privacy

Streamlined Retreat

Modern paver steps tiptoe across an illuminated pool to this understated retreat with a central fire pit lounge that stays cozy even though it is open on all sides. A sleek black metal awning with a wood-paneled ceiling accommodates the seating area that includes a home entertainment center and outdoor dining room. The fire pit and adjacent kitchen are veneered in limestone, and the prep areas feature quartzite counters.

More inspiration: 50 Patio Design Ideas

Swim-Up Wet Bar

You can feel the sun warming the roof tiles at this imaginative poolside bar with both inside and in-pool seating. The Mediterranean-style pavilion has precast concrete columns with a travertine finish on square stone-clad pedestals. There's plenty of seating at the L-shaped counter inside, but why leave the water? Just sidestroke over to the slab-granite pool bar with its four stone pool seats.

More inspiration: 55 Patio Bars + Outdoor Dining Ideas

Primitive and Peaceful

A tiki hut offers a character-filled alternative to the simple pergola that will bring a tropical tone to your outdoor oasis. Its au-natural design means there are climate considerations, but the rough construction is begging for a DIY attempt. This Polynesian-style hut is ready for poolside repose in its clever swing recliners, and convenient bar tables are neatly nestled into the natural wood pillars.

Try it: How to Make & Hang a Simple Outdoor Swing

Cannonball Cabana

Homeowners chose a cabana-style structure for this outdoor oasis with a rectangular pool set within an idyllic garden. The cabana's oversized fireplace and clerestory windows bring warmth and light to a space large enough for lounging, dining and playing. The painted-brick construction and low-sloping roof style are in keeping with the primary residence, and an extended eave provides a covered-porch area between the cabana and the turquoise pool.

More inspiration: 12 Ways to Create a Luxe Resort-Style Backyard

Aqua-Side Award Winner

This classically trained pavilion illustrates how elegance is in the details. A chocolate standing-seam roof with decorative eaves rests atop rectangular columns with horizontal lines to form wide arches topped in subtle medallions. Though this stunner won awards for its looks, it isn't all about appearances: The painted brick chimney reminds us there is plenty of room inside for family time fireside and dining with friends.

More inspiration: Meet the 2022 HGTV Ultimate Outdoor Awards Nominees

Sunbathing in Serenity

With its promise of maximum poolside enjoyment across the seasons, a conservatory can house a formal living and dining area for entertaining, a casual retreat for friends and family, guest quarters or a sun-drenched studio. This lovely example features sleek glass, painted hardwood and aluminum. Its cupola has windows that open to invite summer breezes and a stone fireplace provides cooler-weather comfort.

More Inspiration: 67 Dreamy Pool Design Ideas

Sunken Treasure

Architects went up instead of out with this stylish two-story pool house, an excellent strategy to make the most of a small footprint. High ceilings and a full bank of floor-to-ceiling windows upstairs preside over the pair of smaller windows below that bookend the double-entry door. The natural stonework on the lower level wraps around the pool in the form of an attractive border wall.

More inspiration: How to Use Rocks in Your Landscape

Graceful Gardens

The little black dress of pool structures, this simple pavilion with classic white columns invites poolside repose in an outdoor living room. Well-placed at a niche in the geometric pool and nestled between blooming flowers, the pavilion's central fireplace emerges from a low stone wall encircling the rear garden. The open space feels intimate and promises year-round enjoyment by the hearth.

More inspiration: 50 Gorgeous Outdoor Spaces Featured in the Designer of the Year Awards

Bohemian Vibe

White flowing curtains with turquoise tiebacks provide both a feminine frame and optional privacy for this cheery poolside lounge. Designer Christina Karras aimed for a seductive and laid-back cabana area for this pool: "I wanted to get the vibe of Morocco with the vintage rose-colored pendant, deep-blue tones and the curving violet ironwork on the gate." See more of this space in the next slide.

Try it: DIY Outdoor Curtains

Splashy Poolside Lounge

The roof's woven sunshade material pairs beautifully with blue-and-white linens. A closeup of the upholstered daybed reveals its composition. "It was constructed out of simple white painted cinderblock, Sunbrella fabric and high-density foam," designer Christina Karras says. "It was a matter of understanding the scale of the poolside and encompassing it with the desire to utterly lounge. The curtains were installed for a possible need for privacy." It is a sizable sofa, after all.

Find More Ideas: Outdoor Gallery Walls and Privacy Screens to Give Your Backyard Seclusion With Style

Southern Exposure

A traditional conservatory was chosen for this brick mansion's pool area, which shares a wall with the rear of the home. The sunlight-drenched space with ample outside vistas allows for indoor repose after an afternoon frolic in the pool. The trio of French doors at the conservatory's front gives the option of greater exposure.

More on doors: 10 Modern Sliding Door Systems to Inspire Your Home Remodel

Bathing Suitable

Entirely surrounded by a modern mosaic-tiled cocktail pool, this swanky island lounge has upholstered bench seating on its periphery. A central fire pit and the retractable awning above the pool promise maximum climate comfort. The lounge is backdropped by a stone wall with a central cutout that creates a gorgeous living room landscape out of … well, the landscaping.

Learn More: Pool Systems 101: Saltwater vs. Chlorine

From: Pool Environments, Inc.

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Photo By: Matt Vacca

Photo By: Village Properties, a member of Luxury Portfolio International

Photo By: Village Properties. a member of Luxury Portfolio International

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