Tube Dude is a well-known figure on the Lake Erie shoreline, a sunny yellow smiley-face equivalent of a highway mile-marker that boaters use to indicate their location on the water, says Jess Oster, owner of general contractor Oster Services in Lakewood.
The powder-coated steel, sculpture by Sarasota, Florida, artist Scott Gerber, also overlooks the summertime fun destination a Bay Village couple created in the sloping backyard of their gray-sided Dutch colonial. The pool, together with the pool house and curving overhead deck, looks like a scaled-down version of what vacationers might find on a cruise ship — minus the house, of course. “[It wasn’t] completed for long when they actually had a wedding in their backyard,” Oster says. “That’s the sort of thing they really enjoy doing.”
The property wasn’t exactly suited for the project the couple envisioned. Oster explains that the backyard is located on an old riverbed. “The soils are historically unstable,” he says. Jim Schilens of Engineered Technical Solutions in Westlake installed a deep foundation to support the pool and pool house, along with a sheet-pile wall to protect against erosion and a cove for personal watercraft.
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Oster and his team of contractors then began building the pool house. Lakewood-based architect Mark Reinhold added a gray TimberTech deck and staircase off the house’s first floor — a space created on top of an existing storage area — and counterparts off the lower level to access the pool house’s rooftop deck, pool house and 36-by-16-foot pool, the last of which was installed by Highland Construction of Richfield.
“What we wanted to do is have enough landings, have enough places to gather, many levels going down to the pool and the shoreline,” hevexplains.
The homeowners requested the bright yellow slide on one side of the house, an alternative to taking the steps from the lower level.
“It’s a quick way down,” Oster says from experience.
Reinhold’s design optimizes the property’s east and west views as well as the pool house’s limited square footage, an effort that created room for under-cover lounging. A blue mirror extending over the length of black-granite-topped cabinetry along one wall (a feature suggested by Mike Kelly of Cleveland-based Glass Inc. that makes the reflection of sky and lake look even bluer on a clear day), together with the owners’ wall-mounted TV and ceiling-mounted fans, provide the look of an outdoor bar with stainless-steel-fronted refrigeration units, a Kegerator and storage without thevservice-bar-with-stools itself.
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“Having a place where anybody can go up and get their drink or get their snack seemed much more natural,” Reinhold says. He relegated the gas grill to a lapis-blue-tiled exterior-wall alcove that helps protect from the elements and conceals ventilation. “We didn’t want to take [the pool house] over as an outdoor kitchen,” he says. “Cooking can happen and should happen, but [it] shouldn’t slow down gathering around the bar.”
Similarly, no walls enclose the shower in the bathroom, rendering it a wet room to save space. Oster concedes that the square wall-mounted sink and commode get wet when swimmers rinse off before and after taking a dip.
“[But] the whole thing is something you can hose out and keep clean,” he says.
The stamped concrete extends to TimberTech pool decking. Oster explains that it allows rain and melting snow to drain into an underlying system that empties into the lake.
“[The decking] dries quick,” he says. “It’s comfortable to walk on. And it just fits this installation better. Water management is a big deal on these lakefront projects.”
Oster credits the lady of the house with the blue-and-yellow color scheme, executed in everything from the sky-blue cushions on the white-frame pool-house sofas to the yellow-and-white-striped accent pillows and towels.
“They really wanted it to be visible — [they] had a unique opportunity to make something really cool [looking] from the water, not just around the pool deck,” he says.
The couple also retained Oster to convert the storage room off the lower level into a barrel-ceilinged steam room. His team executed a design on one wall in black and white penny-
round tile, a feature visible from the changing area through the glass wall separating the two spaces. A wood-slat bench conceals the steam unit; a cabinet door hides the electrical panel. Like the pool house, it is designed to be hosed down.
Oster says the homeowners completed the project by adding Tube Dude as a year-round message to guests and passers-by.
“Anyone who’s out on the lake should be happy,” he says.
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