About an hour north of Nashville, Tennessee, designer Jessica Dolan of 25:40 love interiors had a dream project. “It is a newly built pool house on a gorgeous four-acre property that complements the main house and other outbuildings built in 1895,” she tells us. 

It’s set on a gorgeous lot in Bowling Green, Kentucky. “I was brought on board after the architectural plans and landscape design plans,” Jessica explains. “My job was to make the best use of space in the already drawn room while making it easy to entertain and beautiful.”

Since it was a new build that would sit alongside structures from 1895, they were very intentional in designing the pool house to coordinate with the property. “I always prefer organic materials in my designs, but this one was even more important,” Jessica explains. “Our goal was to use materials that would patina and catch up to the rest of the property, such as natural cedar that would gray and copper that would darken.” Inside, the walls were coated in Swiss Coffee by Benjamin Moore, a warm white paint. 

The clients are a busy homeschooling family of 7, which includes 5 boys. “They are major gourmet foodies who love to entertain,” she tells us. “The husband mentioned more than once that he wanted as much seating as we could fit in the pool house. He’s an enneagram 7 so I knew the more seats I could fit in this space, the happier he would be.” She chose a dining table from RH with chairs from Shoppe Amber Interiors. The lounge chairs are from Lulu and Georgia and the side tables are McGee & Co. She outfitted the space in accessories from Tomlin House and Williams-Sonoma.

The project took 17 months from the time 25:40 love interiors was brought on board to completion. “Since the homeowners could see the project taking shape out their kitchen and hearth room windows, there wasn’t a big element of surprise when it was complete and installed,” the designer recalls. “But, since I scheduled the photo shoot while they were out of town, when they saw a sneak peek, they did ask for all of the styling to stay!” 

The pool house now highlights the best of design: it’s a beautiful, inspiring space that’s still highly functional. And perhaps most important? It’s got a seat for everyone.