From Bethesda Magazine: Pools are the stars in three MoCo backyards
Luxe water features offer tranquil getaways close to home
By Wendy A. Jordan
May 22, 2026 11:21 a.m.
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Imagine coming home to your own little oasis after a long day at work: floating in your backyard pool as a firepit casts a warm glow and your dinner grills in an alfresco kitchen. Dream-worthy private getaways like this are transforming backyards around Montgomery County.
Relaxing outside has become a priority for area homeowners, says Germantown architect James Gerrety. It’s a trend that started more than a decade ago and grew during the COVID-19 lockdown. Gerrety says today’s homeowners want “tailored, fully outfitted outdoor spaces,” often with cooking stations and luxurious pools as central features.
Here is a look at three outdoor living areas elevated by a swoon-worthy place to go for a swim.
The Grandchildren Magnet
To enjoy the beauty and tranquility of country living, Robin and Sarah Salomon, both in their 60s, bought a house several years ago on an 8-acre property abutting forestland in Darnestown. In July 2024 they added a landscaped pool and pool house complex designed for entertaining and family gatherings (pictured left). With three adult children and two grandchildren, Robin, an affordable housing developer, says, “We were hoping the pool would be a grandchildren magnet.”
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It worked. Their 10-year-old granddaughter loves swimming and making s’mores over a Solo Stove firepit in the pool house pavilion. Their 8-year-old grandson tosses balls into a poolside basketball hoop. The whole family watches Commanders games on the pavilion television facing the pool. Robin and Sarah use the pavilion to grill dinner, sometimes for themselves and sometimes when hosting groups.
Alpine Pool & Design Corp. of Annandale, Virginia, designed and installed the 20-by-40-foot heated pool with a PebbleSheen ocean blue finish. It is 3½ feet deep at the shallow end and 7½ feet at the deep end. Sarah loves its infinity edge, which makes the water seem to “float away from the shallow edge toward the woods.”
Sarah also loves the wall-enclosed outdoor shower on the side of the pool house. “There’s something really nice about showering outside,” she says. It’s reminiscent of the showers she used as a child on family vacations in Bethany Beach, Delaware, but more stylish, with its Azek PVC walls, slatted cedar bench, brushed chrome clothing hooks and Kenzo triple function outdoor shower that includes a rain showerhead, handheld shower and foot wash spout.
Gerrety designed the rustic yet elegant pool house and pavilion. Hopkins & Porter Construction in Potomac built the 16-by-20-foot pool house and outdoor living features. Mid-Atlantic Timberframes of Paradise, Pennsylvania, crafted and assembled the 17-by-20-foot weathered finish Douglas fir post-and-beam pavilion. Gerrety’s design included such details as shaped rafter tails, fir support brackets, wooden dowel peg connectors, and “light, delicate” stainless steel rods to structurally support the ceiling’s vaulted and exposed timber frame.
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Inside the pool house, a powder room wrapped in airy floral wallpaper brings a welcoming garden ambience. The kitchen has a Miele refrigerator, Zline dishwasher, cabinetry, and a sink deep enough for Sarah’s flower arranging. Gaines Hurdle of Potomac’s Scarlett Interiors says she used Tarkett vinyl composition black-and-white checkerboard flooring with tiny specs in the kitchen and powder room “for a fresh, clean look.” A pool house storage room doubles as a studio annex for Sarah, a fine art photographer.
The cooking is done in the pavilion, where an 8½-foot-long island features a grill and side burner from Summerset, plus stainless steel storage and a pullout trash bin. Gerrety designed the custom buffet built by Johann International of Kensington. It runs across a painted brick veneer wall. Board-and-batten cement board covers the other walls. The buffet has an Architecture Stones granite top, storage below and Douglas fir cabinetry. Brown Jordan Venetian chairs and sofas in mica finish cluster around a coffee table. A Brown Jordan Venetian dining table is nearby. The pool deck and pavilion floor are paved with limestone.
At night, the pavilion exudes a soft glow from sconces, concealed tape lights in the roof rafters, ceiling spotlights, and lights in the custom cupola that Hopkins & Porter built on-site. Caroline Ervin of Washington, D.C.-based Caroline Ervin Landscape Design subtly illuminated the flagstone path between the house and pool with tiny, flat lights installed by Outdoor Illumination of Bethesda. She surrounded the roomy pool deck with flowering plants that produce “lots of blooms and gorgeous color” spring through fall. Native grasses, perennials, shrubs and trees ensure visual interest and natural beauty all year.
You can find Sarah and Robin in the pavilion rain or shine. On hot days, two fans “make all the difference,” Gerrety says. As for rain, Robin says 11 friends came over for dinner the first time the Salomons used the pavilion. “It started pouring, but the pavilion covered us completely. Nobody got wet, and the raindrops falling on the pool looked very pretty.”
hot tub. Photo credit: Tony Ventouris Photography
Mediterranean in Rockville
Katerina Andrawos brought a little magic to her home on a quiet cul-de-sac in the Granby Woods section of Rockville in June 2025. Behind the 2004 house, she added an outdoor living area that fuses fire and water, dark and light, serenity and sparkle.
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Andrawos, who owns Home Tech Restoration in Rockville and ProTech Contractors in Baltimore, says she wanted a place where her two children, ages 11 and 14, “could enjoy time with their cousins and friends, while also giving adults a place to unwind after a long day. I wanted it to feel like a private resort.” Eden Design Group, a custom pool builder and outdoor living contractor in Gaithersburg, made it happen.
Joshua Seek, Eden’s co-owner, says, “Our goal always is to create an outdoor space so beautiful that you can’t help but come out of the house” and experience it. In full view from a sweep of large windows across the back of Andrawos’ house, the outdoor area is a constant draw.
Seek and Eden Design Coordinator Isabela Kisi designed the tightly composed area for dramatic impact as people come out through the house’s glass doors. Centrally aligned on either side of a 20-by-40-foot pool are a 10-by-10-foot sunken firepit and a hot tub of matching size. The pool is 3½ to 5½ feet deep and includes a shallow, 20-by-10-foot tanning shelf. Lined with white plaster, the pool is accented with blue tile on the waterline and on the tanning shelf.
A waterfall flows from the hot tub into the swimming pool. Water also flows from 29-inch Moderno 2 Fire/Water bowls, two flanking the hot tub and two more along the poolside. The fire bowls augment the spectacle of the 48-inch Prism Moderno 4 fire bowl in the firepit.
Because Andrawos, 42, loves traveling to the Mediterranean, where white stucco and plaster set the tone, Seek and Kisi used light gray for the Techo-Bloc smooth pavers and pool coping. A border of black Mexican pebbles around the pools
and firepit accents the light paving. Andrawos chose black-framed, white-cushioned outdoor furniture that echoes the dark/light theme.
But she wanted a splash of color, too. Glass mosaic tiles in iridescent aquamarine “lightwaves” from National Pool Trends line the tanning shelf and pool perimeter and wrap around the hot tub and fire bowl posts. They’re perfect, Andrawos says. “When the sun hits the tiles, they shine” and display a rich mix of blues.
When the sun goes down, low-voltage LED ground lights in the pebble border and color-changing strip lights under the firepit rim, all from Alliance Outdoor Lighting, provide visibility and atmosphere.
“The hot tub is definitely my kids’ favorite space,” Andrawos says. “We used it daily until November.” And when the cousins come over, they all sit on the ledge surrounding the firepit. “It’s kind of their space.” She says her favorite spot is the tanning shelf, where there are two lounge chairs in the 8-inch-deep water. She turns on the fire and water features and sits on the ledge to relax at day’s end.
Eden will be back soon to add two more features. In the rear yard, Seek says, “We’ll build a pavilion with covered seating, bar, outdoor kitchen and an accent waterfall wall. And we’ll install an illuminated glass wall” that marks the way to a new basketball court.
Andrawos devoted much thought and research to the outdoor living space she dreamed of having. Looking at it now, she says the project is “exactly what I envisioned.”
Urban Getaway
Paresh and Dina Patel’s oasis is in the heart of Bethesda. Both are physicians and unable to get away often for vacations, so last July the Patels, each around 50, brought getaway ambience to their home. Equipped with a lounge pool, firepit, sunroom, pergola and outdoor kitchen, their backyard offers beauty, comfort and a versatile mix of entertainment options, all within a 30-by-90-foot space.
Potomac Outdoor Living designed and produced the project. The Bethesda-based full-service outdoor living contractor is a dealer for Four Seasons Sunrooms and Windows, Soake Pools and several other manufacturers. Its Germantown showroom displays full-size sunrooms, pergolas, outdoor appliances and finish products, many of which the Patels selected for their style and easy-care features.
When they built their house in the Landon Woods area of Bethesda in 2011, their three children were small. By 2025, two were in high school, one was in college, and the backyard swing set had long been idle. “We wanted to make better use of the yard and have outdoor living space we could enjoy,” Dina says. “I grew up with a pool and wanted one here. Paresh wanted a hot tub.”
The compact 7-by-13-foot Soake hybrid pool is both. In the evenings, Dina often treads water and does water aerobics in the 5-foot-deep pool. When the water is heated to 104 degrees, the Patels use it as a spa. App-controlled water jets and color-changing LED lights customize the pool’s look and function. Guests seated on the perimeter walls that border the pool and curve gracefully around the adjacent patio can enjoy the pool’s dramatic waterfall feature and the firepit nearby.
Potomac Outdoor Living converted the family’s 14-by-20-foot screened porch into a sunroom for year-round use by installing Four Seasons glass wall panels, insulated luxury vinyl tile flooring, and a heat pump for heating and cooling.
Steps lead down to the outdoor kitchen and gathering space arranged in an 11-by-16-foot Four Seasons pergola featuring a wall-mounted television that rotates for viewing from the pool.
With a remote-controlled retractable roof for use in sun or rain, the pergola is also equipped with hanging Bromic radiant heaters and an overhead fan to extend the season for lounging outside. The powder-coated aluminum sunroom exterior, pergola structure, and TimberTech stair rails at the sunroom and family room steps are maintenance-free.
Blaze stainless steel outdoor appliances—beverage refrigerator, cabinets and grill with rotisserie—are contained in an island that’s topped with a leathered granite counter. The food prep center serves the pergola and an alfresco dining area.
Because the outdoor space is relatively small, “we didn’t want too much going on” visually, Dina says. “I definitely wanted a peaceful aesthetic.” The Patels achieved a tranquil, uncluttered look by selecting the same Unilock Beacon Hill smooth hardscaping material and tones for the patio surface and wall veneers. Dave Trybus of Potomac Outdoor Living says the low-maintenance pavers are factory sealed to resist staining and increase longevity.
All of the outdoor furniture came from RH. The suite—including Striata and Nusa seating in black aluminum with light-tone cushions, a black aluminum dining table and neutral-finish concrete side tables—delivers a clean, sophisticated feel.
A 6-foot-high white vinyl privacy fence is maintenance-free. For added privacy and natural beauty, Potomac Outdoor Living came back this spring to plant a border of fast-growing green giant arborvitae evergreen trees (not pictured).
The Patels say that one of the best aspects of the outdoor area is its flexibility. “We’ve used all of the space in different ways,” says Dina, arranging different food stations and seating clusters. “It’s super easy to entertain.” And to be playful. Paresh says, “One of the more fun things is watching movies in the pool with our younger niece and nephew. The space works for all ages.”
This appears in the May/June 2026 issue of Bethesda Magazine.
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine