To go away or stay home...
This is a question for the Memorial Day Weekend coming up that many of us ask ourselves and family. Then again it's not only the holiday weekends that bring up this question. It comes up on numerous occasions as we consider travel to new areas and trying out resorts, lodges or camps.
I had the occasion to visit Big Bend National Park recently on a birding trip with my wife and friends and then visited the Davis Mountains to explore this beautiful area. We stayed at the Indian Lodge which is a unique inn located in Jeff Davis County northwest of Fort Davis within the bounds of Davis Mountains State Park. Built in the 1930s, it was opened to the public in 1939.
When we "discover" a new place with intriguing environments don't we all think, "wouldn't it be nice to have a place here?" We think about this seriously at least for a time and some of us actually make plans to come back and look for property maybe as a place to retire to permanently or to have a second home. It is an intriguing process, this finding our own space.
Others of us consider not having a second home but improving our own place or buying a principal place to live with the amenities we would like to live with. This is what some of us have been working on and we set out to make our own space something like the resorts, lodges or camps we have enjoyed visiting in our travels. Is this at-home resort life possible?
The concept of living with a pool as an architectural feature in your landscape is compelling and can create an atmosphere found in some resorts. There are some simple concepts of adding not only a pool but a "pool environment" that has caught on with homeowners where the landscape architect works to incorporate pool rooms as space that creates an outdoor/indoor integration. This is an extension to the ideas of creating outdoor living space that was touched on in an earlier post Outdoor Living Rooms.
Some homeowners are actually creating a resort at home with very luxurious pool houses with kitchens, baths and entertaining spaces so homeowners and their guests can mingle about & enjoy the experience. Indoor-outdoor design holds the added appeal of outdoor living with indoor comforts and is more attractive in warmer regions like Southern Arizona as where we are more apt to open the doors year-round.
A fireplace, whether indoor or outdoor, is another popular element of a pool house or backyard oasis. The fireplace is an ideal spot to gather for family time or assembling a group of friends rather than going out. Pool areas with comfortable furniture and outdoor fireplaces continue to gain popularity in Arizona since when the sun goes down the perceptible temperature can drop quickly. An article in RDB magazine on luxury pool houses shows just how exquisite some of these projects become. Some homeowners have actually achieved the feeling of arriving at their own personal resort as they have managed to design & build their own at-home oasis or purchased a home having this feeling.