When you live in the South for seven months out of the year, a pool can become the focus of activity in a home. One Winston-Salem family decided to make their pool quite literally the center of the home—with stunning results.
Acanthus Architecture was called on to design the house, which was created in a C-shape that hugs a bluestone patio. Shimmering like a sapphire in the center is the 450-foot 
rectangular pool. Thanks to banks of double-height windows and French doors in the interior spaces, the pool is visible from inside. “It’s quite literally the first thing you see when you enter,”says Alys Stephens Protzman, the interior designer on the project and principal of Alys Design in Pittsboro. “The pool is the showpiece of the home.”
There are several white chaises and a table with chairs, but for the most part, the patio and pool maintain the same cool, comfortable, and uncluttered aesthetic as the rest of the home. “The architecture is so clean and strong, it sort of speaks for itself,” Proztman says. “We didn’t want to distract from that with a lot of umbrellas and tchotchkes.”
And they’re not needed; as a magnificent screened porch has all the amenities for year-round après- or post-pool lounging, from a wood-burning fireplace to a custom swing bed covered in plush pillows. For this family, virtually everything is done poolside, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.