Gallery Explore the Details
Key Features
The Difference Before & After
01 — The Challenge A Stunning Property Without an Outdoor Space to Match
The Shaos had a beautiful stucco home on a wooded lot in Malvern — the kind of Main Line property with mature trees, rolling terrain, and real privacy — but the backyard wasn't keeping up. They wanted an outdoor living experience that matched the quality of the home and took advantage of the natural setting rather than ignoring it, envisioning something that felt more like a private resort than a typical patio-and-pool setup. The property featured significant grade changes from the house down to the backyard, with a wooded hillside rising behind the planned pool and pavilion area, mature trees that needed to be preserved, and terrain that required multi-level terracing and engineered retaining solutions to create usable flat space for the pool, pavilion, and patio zones — and neighbor proximity on one side called for privacy screening. The Shaos wanted a true outdoor destination: a covered pavilion large enough for dining, lounging, and watching TV by the fire year-round; a pool with attached spa for daily use; distinct entertaining zones that could handle large gatherings but still feel intimate on a quiet evening; and a landscape design that embraced the wooded setting rather than clearing it out. With the scale of the investment and the complexity of the terrain, they wanted confidence that the design would feel cohesive across all elements rather than a collection of separate features, and they were particular about material quality — the pavilion and stone work needed to feel substantial and permanent, not prefabricated.
02 — Our Approach Building a Private Resort in the Trees
The design centered on creating a layered outdoor experience that unfolds as you move through the space, with each zone feeling like its own room but connected by a consistent material palette — natural stone used on the pavilion columns, fireplace chimney, pool walls, retaining walls, and steps is the thread that ties everything together, while the timber frame pavilion was designed as the anchor of the entire property, positioned on the hillside as a visual destination from the house. The grade was addressed with multiple terrace levels connected by natural stone steps, with the pool set at mid-level with a travertine surround and the spa integrated at the far end with a spillover cascade into the main pool. A stone retaining wall along the back of the pool doubles as a water feature with multiple spillways and a raised planting bed that screens the wooded hillside. The timber frame pavilion was built with heavy post-and-beam construction, a full stone fireplace and chimney, shingled roof with cupola, and a bar counter with stool seating; a cedar privacy fence with vine-covered arbor gate encloses the pool area without feeling like a barrier; and a paver patio with inlaid diamond border pattern creates the fire pit and entertaining zone closer to the house. The space moves outward and upward from the house — closest to the home is the paver patio with fire pit and Adirondack seating, a curved walkway leads to the pool level with its travertine deck, lounge chairs, and spa with cascading spillover, and steps rise from the pool deck up to the timber frame pavilion as the crown of the property, with its stone fireplace, sectional lounge, mounted TV, bar counter, and infrared heaters for three-season use. Behind the pavilion, the wooded hillside provides a natural backdrop with boulder features, while the cedar fence and arbor gate define the perimeter and lush plantings — Japanese maples, lavender, evergreens, ornamental grasses — soften every edge.
03 — The Transformation A Main Line Retreat Designed to Live Like a Resort
The pavilion was designed as the heart of the property — a space built to hold everything from an intimate weeknight dinner by the fireplace to a weekend gathering that spills across the bar, pool deck, and fire pit. The attached spa and pool are positioned for daily use, and the variety of zones is intentional: the layout allows different groups to do different things at once — swimming, gathering at the bar, relaxing by the fire — without anyone feeling on top of each other. With the stone fireplace and infrared heaters, the pavilion was designed to stay comfortable well into the shoulder seasons, extending the usable calendar far beyond a typical Main Line backyard.
