Todd Emmerson | Signature Pools & Spas + Brian Larsen | County Wide Landscaping

The pergola

A custom-made 18-by-20-foot raised pergola provides an ideal focal point for the backyard. It’s truly an indoor-outdoor theme: The natural stacked stone used on the columns, kitchen area and fireplace matches a stone wall inside the home, and the pergola’s beams also correspond with the woodwork and styling of the interior.

A dramatic rain curtain was actually plumbed into one of the pillars and then engineered into the top plank. “It wasn’t easy to take and stuff a 6-foot waterfall inside one of those beams,” Larsen says. “There was a lot of fabricating involved in that — cutting apart the resin and fiberglass and inserting it, then patching it all up. It was a nice challenge.”