Pool With A View
Living on a 25-acre farm in Mendham has its perks. Where else can one lounge poolside within sight of horses in a nearby pasture?
Design by Scenic Landscaping LLC
Photography by Heather Knapp
Text by Donna Rolando
A Montclair-area couple wanted to distance themselves from city life and wanted a pool. They fell in love with a 25-acre farm in Mendham with a home that exuded modern farmhouse charm—and had five bedrooms for their blended family, including three school-aged girls living at home.
Purchased in 2023, the property was so ideal they decided to move ahead without the pool. That turned out to be an easy fix. They worked with Matt Jones, senior landscape architect of Wanaque-based Scenic Landscaping and its branches Tapestry Landscape Architecture and Tranquility Pools, for what homeowner Sarah calls “a home that feels like a getaway.”
This Mendham pool design is “clean, green and natural,” says Scenic Landscaping’s Matt Jones, mindful of its setting, a 25-acre farm.
The project broke ground in March 2024, Jones says, and preserving a “green rural backdrop” was key throughout the process. So the pool is embedded in the lawn and wrapped in a bluestone coping border. (Sarah knew that Jones understood their aesthetic when he designed a clean, modern pool—nothing extreme to clash with their converted farmhouse, originally a calving barn from the early 1900s.) There are poolside views of horses in a nearby pasture. The lounge area—with its navy and teak, all-weather furniture from Distinctively Outdoors—keeps the greenery going with synthetic turf accenting a floating, diamond-pattern bluestone patio.
This al fresco dining area features a 16-foot teak table for a large, blended family.
But why stop there? Jones also created an al fresco dining area, a firepit gathering nook, a sunken hot tub and layered landscaping. Jones notes that former owners collected trees over the years and left the “luxury” of mature growths, such as a bountiful apple tree. He worked to combine these living treasures with layers of new plantings in the Hamptons style—“clean and green, nothing gaudy,” he says.
Drawing character from stonework, a country fieldstone firepit sits atop a bluestone patio. Fountain grass and hydrangeas contribute to a timeless Hamptons vibe.
Sarah credits Jones with attention to every detail, such as the multi-toned bricks from Copthorne by Unilock that add character to the dining area’s rectangular patio near an outdoor kitchen. His inspiration, she recalls, came from their mudroom’s herringbone pattern. With the veggie garden so near, she adds, “He had this whole vision. He’s like, ‘You can go and pick fresh tomatoes and then sit down.’ It’s actually true. That’s what we do.” In fact, although she had never lived on a farm before, Sarah grows plentiful produce for her family. Squeezed in between the apple tree and the home, the former dining area was far too small for this family of seven and now serves as a landing.
As reflected in this stone walkway and fountain, the front exterior of this farmhouse sets the stage for a tranquil escape from city life.
The dining area does fancy footwork with a multitoned concrete-brick patio built to last.
In cool weather, the wood-burning firepit is especially a hit. Once again, it’s all about the view; in this case, a rolling pasture, which Jones maximized by clearing out overgrown plants, and a lily pad pond nestled in the grass.
Near the master bedroom, off a pathway Jones created, is a sunken hot tub by Bullfrog Spas, which also drinks in its farm setting. “It’s a really high-end spa but you don’t want to see 30 inches of it,” Jones says. “That’s why we partially sunk it and we lifted the ground in front of it with a bluestone platform.” This spa nestles under oak and yellow wood trees with a fieldstone wall on the pasture end, which defines the space.
Jones rescued crumbling landscaping at the arched front garden entrance with a coral bark Japanese Maple and carpet roses.
Perhaps nowhere was their dedication to time-tested trees more evident than in their quest to preserve lindens lining the driveway. Access to the jobsite became the project’s biggest challenge, as they tasked themselves with transporting machinery round the back, Jones says.
While Sarah loves each new feature of their yard, the pool is still the “best part’’—especially with the pastoral view from the chaise longue chairs. Overall, she says, “It’s a fun gathering place. The whole design is very conducive to entertaining.”
