POOL PAVILION

Viewing Pembroke Lodge for the first time, the external architecture of the home and pool pavilion thoroughly impressed Courtney Chessen, owner and lead designer at Mandarine Home in Winnetka. “I thought the house was stunning on the outside, and that the grounds and architectural detail on the pool pavilion were beautiful,” she recalls.

Opting to design the pool pavilion, Chessen says she and her team were excited that it offered such a big space to work with “but everything needed a fresh, more updated look,” she notes.

“I instantly fell in love with the idea of grand, sweeping drapes adorned with a bold, colorful banding—creating a striking backdrop while beautifully framing the view,” says Chessen. “Given the time of year for the Showhouse, we wanted to be able to close the drapes if it was cold or rainy. Thibaut graciously offered to sponsor us.”

“We adored the main fabric and a wallpaper that brought in the green of the outdoors, while also giving us the ability to add pops of purple, shades of blue, and neutrals,” Chessen continues.

“It is a great venue for outdoor entertaining, so we decided to incorporate an interesting bar we found, plus a vintage coffee table with garden stools serving as end tables.” And with Chicago weather in mind, the team chose an indoor/outdoor rug from Fibreworks.

After she “imagined lounging around reading in the summer with a nice breeze,” Chessen thought of her favorite outdoor furniture line and included a beautiful daybed from Made Goods. Including a daybed instead of two sofas “opened up the space so you wouldn’t walk into the back of a sofa,” Chessen explains. “Additionally, it gave us a place to show off fun pillows with Thibaut’s great trims.”

Rounding out the space, “I fell in love with a vintage mirror from a dealer in Florida,” Chessen explains. “And since the fabric we chose had some purple in it, we painted the mirror with a great Benjamin Moore paint color called Naples Sunset, knowing that it would add a fun pop of color.”

Since the large area only had four existing can lights, the team augmented the lighting by adding a beautiful indoor/outdoor light fixture from Palecek.

One of the pavilion’s best features is its unique crown molding, the shape of which Chessen was charmed to find “looked a bit like our logo.” The team explored putting a fun trellis on the ceiling but opted for color instead.

Talking more about the palette, Chessen says while she has been doing a lot of coral, pink, and Mandarine’s signature orange “for some reason with this project, I saw purple, which came through in our main fabric, wallpaper, and paint.”

As this is Chessen’s first year doing a room at the Showhouse as her own practice, she is “really enjoying seeing the whole project come together. I’ve seen many Showhouses, and I think this one will be the biggest transformation yet.”

For more information, visit mandarinehome.com, @mandarinehome, or email [email protected].