FEATURES

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He opted to surround the pool with a bluestone coping (bullnosed for "softness") that is raised about a foot off the ground so it can serve as "a little seat to sit on and watch the water," Pearson says.

The view from the house to the pool was also carefully choreographed: a modern Italian bench on the back patio is decorated with intense blue pillows by designer John Bjornen. They were chosen to match the shade of nearby delphiniums, which are tucked between pale New Dawn roses and ilex. To the right of the bench, boxwoods encircle lavender de Provence. A walkway on the side of the main house is bordered by peonies, hydrangeas, hastas and a barberry shrub; it passes by walls covered with Old Dawn roses that reach up to the roof. Tumbling from a pergola, refined English Eden roses mix with thick bushes of the shocking pink Knock Out variety. Beyond the pool, colossal alliums dance in front of a polished concrete wall that serves as the throne for a Buddha from Bali.

As for the pool house itself, Pearson had it built in 2000 as a "garden studio," as he likes to call it. It was constructed in the shape of a cross to both reference the main house and "overlooks the garden with 180-degree views of the greenery," Pearson says. The living area, for instance, features French doors opening to a bluestone entranceway draped with Leonardo da Vinci roses. The view out the doors also takes in an old pear tree, huge potted boxwoods, an evergreen globe and the pool.

Inside, the garden studio is decorated in shades of white and silver by Pearson's longtime partner, interior designer Adam Leskinen, and has furnishings that are both elegant and surprising. There is a white love seat adorned with Ralph Lauren floral-print pillows, and a leather ottoman sporting legs of horn.