A Family Pavilion in Arvada

A husband and wife in Arvada called with their kids in mind. They wanted one more reason to be outside together.

Their yard already had a wide concrete patio off the back of the house. It had nothing overhead and nothing to make anyone linger once the sun dropped behind the fence.

Sized for the whole family

They wanted somewhere to grill, somewhere the kids stayed in view of the kitchen window, and somewhere the adults could sit after dinner without hauling out a pop-up canopy.

We set the posts to clear the existing patio without crowding it, so the pavilion reads as part of the house and not something added later. It is solid Douglas Fir, hand-cut mortise and tenon, with drawbored oak pegs throughout.

The furniture moved first

By the last evening, the rocking chairs were back under the roofline and the grill had migrated a few feet closer to it. That is our favorite sign a build is finished. It is not the last peg going in. It is the furniture starting to move toward the structure on its own.