Playboy's Weekend Hideaway

Among the Paradoxical pleasures of the confirmed urbanite's existence is his enjoyment of the country. This he may indulge in measured amounts, to suit his fancy and the season – which immediately sets him apart from farmers and commuters. But when it comes to buying or building a weekend retreat, his options in design are woefully few: instead of having his choice of county or country houses to complement his city penthouse, he finds himself confronted with kozy kottages or split-personality ranch houses or gas-station-modern monstrosities. These, he discovers, are all "oriented." They may be family oriented, kitchen oriented, children oriented, suburb oriented, economy oriented. None seems to have been designed for the man (text continued overleaf) who, perhaps like you, wants his own place away from the city's hurly-burly, a place where he can relax for a weekend or a week, with companions of his choosing, in a house of his own which provides his accustomed comforts and whatever degree of privacy or gregariousness, formality or informality, the occasions of his pleasure require. Here, then, is that house, a gracious hideaway with the simplicity of contemporary elegance and the luxuriousness which the city man prefers. We have given it a lakeside setting; it would be equally suitable at the seaside, or perched on the slope of a hill with a view of the surrounding country.

As your sports car winds up the last quarter mile of road, you see the hide-away very much as it is pictured on Page 49. It is, perhaps, fairly early on a sunny morning. Looking over the house from the pool side, you see the central living-room with a wall of sliding glass panels partially open to the morning breeze and with gay canvas dodgers laced to the stanchions of the sun-bathing roof. To the left, a bit higher than the living-room, is the guest wing, with its private patio (far left) and its glass-walled lounge area cantilevered over the pool. To the (text concluded on page 56) Weekend Hideaway (continued from page 53) right of the livingroom is the master's wing, highest and most private part of the house. A walled, open-topped patio faces the pool; a roofed sun deck projects over the lake and provides shelter for the boat slip and dock below. If you stand at the near corner of the pool, you may be able to discern, beneath its surface, the windows of "the cave," a rec room under the guest wing.

Now, looking at the unroofed view on Pages 50 and 51, imagine yourself skirting the diving board and entering the livingroom at the first open glass panel. There are no steps to climb, no doors to open, and poolside and livingroom floor are continuous and smooth – a boon to barefoot swimmers by day and to romantic couples dancing at night. Before you is the bowl-like fireplace, with its hooded vent dramatically hung from the ceiling. You are now in the relaxed and rather sedentary part of the room; wing-back chairs and a cozy couch against the wall, between cabinets housing bar and stereo rig, have their focus here. Beyond is the dining area which enjoys an uninterrupted view of the lake; the drop-leaf table may be folded flat against the wall, for dancing, or opened to its full length for a buffet. Along the right wall of the dining area is a cabinet for china, glassware and other tableware. To the left of the dining area's window wall is an open hooded brazier (backing it, on the lakeside patio, is an outdoor barbecue), and in the far corner of the room is the food bar which sets off the kitchen area.

Between food bar and pool wall are twin chaises which, without being moved, can be converted to face lake or pool, or, with their backs dropped flat, form a double-bed-sized couch. Up a few steps on your left is the guest wing, down a few steps is the rec room, and four steps lead up from the right wall of the livingroom to the master's wing, a self-contained suite with sun deck, patio, lounging area, dressing area and divided bath.

The livingroom's colors and textures are as sophisticated as those of any town house, yet blend perfectly with the hideaway's bucolic setting. Bright, hand-loomed throw rugs on the sand-colored composition floor are a provincial accent of color. Translucent white draw curtains on a motorized track recessed into the ceiling may be drawn to temper the bright sun and bathe the room in lambent light. And there are full-length green drapes, complementing the buff-colored walls, oiled-walnut woodwork and white ceiling, which can close off all glass areas should you wish – at night or on a blustery day – to exclude the outside completely.

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Now that we've had a general view, let's take a closer look at the hideaway and those special virtues which make it gracious, convenient, comfortable and – above all – a place which breathes romantic excitement and relaxed good fun.

Let's say that you, as proud possessor of this bachelorly domain, have driven up from the city with your dinner companion on a Friday night; Saturday morning finds you stretching luxuriously in the master bedroom's huge double bed. You're expecting guests this morning, but now you have time to appraise your own private quarters. The bed itself, with its ample 54" x 96" size and 24" attached foot bench, is an island in the room, given its private setting by its L-shaped, oiled-walnut, 5-foot-high shield. You reach over to the bedside-table console and press a button which slides back the motorized opaque drapes of rust-colored fiberglass which cover the five fixed glass panels of the wall facing the open side of the bed. Sunlight filtering through the full-length translucent glass curtains beneath the drapes now lights up the room. Another button draws back the draperies of the window wall facing the lake and a soft breeze stirring the water makes rippled reflections on the white ceiling. You rise, grab your robe from the valet chair (See "Quiet Jeeves," Page 41) at the foot of the bed, and stroll out onto the nautical-style sun deck for a morning look at the lake. Then back into the room, through the lounge area, and across the cocoa-brown wall-to-wall carpeting to the master bath.

The bath, 16'x24', also has sliding glass panels for its outside wall; privacy is assured by the vertical siding of redwood which forms the outside walls of the master's wing and continues upward to enclose the flagged patio where you may enjoy an all-over sun bath in privacy. Dominant color of the bath is pale yellow, with brown accents and a slate-gray tile floor. The blond primavera walls of the John also house storage cupboards; a panel opens to your touch revealing linen shelves from which you nab a towel. Once showered, you re-enter your room, proceed to the dressing area behind the bed shield, help yourself to your duds for the day from the 18-foot storage wall which houses built-in drawers, shelves, closet space, and your own small bar.

Dressed, now, you go downstairs and outdoors for a look around. The wood siding, the smooth masonry of the guest wing, the fieldstone lower section of the house, and the huge areas of glass give the hideaway a gleaming elegance in the morning sun. And now the first couple among your weekend guests is coming up the drive. You greet them and lead them to the guest room. It's a large room–28' x 22' – with a glass-walled lounge area suspended over the pool, large bath with double lavatory on lake side, and its own patio-sun deck with open beams (a continuation of the exposed oiled-wood ceiling beams) providing broken shade and support for a rolled awning. Steps lead down from this patio to the pool. The large double bed which stands free in the room has its head backed by modular cabinets and chests of drawers and there is a large storage wall with all closet facilities.

Soon other guests arrive and while the girls all go to do a spot of cooking, you take the men down to the rec room to show them the underwater windows facing into the pool, the bar, the juke box, and the large circular card table where, from time to time, there are stag poker sessions that last almost the entire weekend. And then you go back upstairs to join the girls.

Within a half hour they have brunch ready on a wheeled caddy beside the 30' x 60' pool. Later, there's swimming in pool and lake, water skiing, somebody turns on the stereo rig, somebody else climbs to the roof deck for a nap – but mostly there is wonderfully indolent lolling around, indoors and out.

At the cocktail hour your guests all come together again at poolside and the adjoining area of the livingroom. It's a cooler, less active part of the day. Talk is animated as you and a very special partner leave the group, pause at the bar to pick up a drink, and go to the privacy of the master's wing to watch the sun set over the lake. Later, she may whip up a huge salad while you broil a steak and other guests sit at the bar to keep you company and make you feel properly important. After dinner there are games in the rec room for the more sportsmanlike types, a bit of music and dancing for others, perhaps a moonlight boat ride or a moonlight swim in the lighted pool. And still later, when most of your guests for the day have departed and you and the select few who will stay the weekend have settled down around the fire, or are sprawled at ease in your room, you have a little time to realize what a wonderful hideaway is yours. There is intimate coziness when it's wanted, there's ample room for a gay crowd, there's privacy and sociability, all to be had in the seclusion of your own weekend retreat. It may even cross your mind, as you bid goodnight to the guest-wing contingent and prepare a final potation to share with your chosen companion, that within these walls you are, literally, an irresistible host.

For further information on any of the above, write to Playboy Reader Service, 232 E. Ohio Street, Chicago 11, Illinois.

Interiors, Looking Toward the Pool

The hideaway comprises separate but integrated areas: center is the livingroom with glass walls facing lake and pool; at top is guest wing, two steps up from livingroom, with glass wall cantilevered over pool, private patio and bath; bottom is master's wing, four steps up from livingroom and providing sleeping and dressing areas, lounging area with glass wall facing lake and sun deck cantilevered over the water, divided bath, private patio above pool. The indoor-outdoor feel of the hideaway is accentuated by the fact that there is no "entrance door" as such, access being through sliding glass panels facing lake or pool; and also by the use of a continuous stretch of cast tiling comprising poolside and livingroom floor. Sun-worshippers' haven is the decked roof of the livingroom, with canvas shields to assure privacy.

Livingroom—as seen at midday from the dining area—has two fixed and six sliding glass panels with which a full 20 feet of wall may be opened to the pool, shares with the poolside walkaround a continuous, cast-composition floor. Thus, on a balmy day, indoors and outdoors become one. When the air is chill, the glass doors are slid shut and a fire is kindled in the bowl-shaped hearth. Although devoid of partitions, the room seems to divide itself in terms of use: the relaxing area focuses on the free-standing fireplace, includes the two wing-back chairs and upholstered wall bench, strewn with cushions, nestled between walnut cabinets. Each cabinet houses a stereo speaker system; the left cabinet contains stereo components; the right one holds a service bar to which there is convenient access from the pool. Elevation at right shows rec room, beneath guest wing, in blue outline, livingroom floor level in red, and garage and boat house, in black, under master's wing.

Far left: Dux' rocking chair (like those facing fireplace), has adjustment for pitch and separate neck cushion, $199.

Left: Jens Risom stacked modular chests and base, flanking upholstered wall bench, $521 complete in oiled walnut.

Right: Flip-flop chaise by Burton-James Associates (not shown in scene above)—either half can be tilted up to form back—and matching ottoman which converts into cocktail table, $265 complete.

Far right: Bruno Mathesson oiled walnut drop-leaf table can open to maximum 110", folds down to 9", $345 in 43-1/2" width. The upholstered chair is oiled teak by Norskand, $49.50.

Rec Room—nicknamed "the cave" because of its subterranean location beneath the guest wing and its prehistoric wall decoration — makes it possible for those who are interested in gamesmanship to play indoors undisturbed and undisturbing. Here the music is unadulterated juke box; here an all-night poker session may greet the dawn light filtering through the pool. On invitingly warm nights, when the pool walls' recessed lights are on and it's floodlit for a midnight swimming party, the cave's windows are luminous living murals. Other times, there's a choice of games of chance and skill, including billiards and darts. And there is a bar-type bar where one may take refreshment between sessions of kibitzing, or sit and sip while observing the swimmers through the underwater windows. A folding table-tennis "court" may be placed over the billiard table; wall panels conceal cupboards for sports equipment and storage for skis in summer and boating and pool gear in winter.

Livingroom, above—facing food bar and cooking corner, as seen when looking toward the lake at night. The counter-bar forms one leg of a U-shaped, open kitchen, which is visually separated from the rest of the room by wood-panel screen hung from ceiling and matching screen forming room side of counter. All utility units are within counter or are wall hung. A bit to the right is an indoor barbecue brazier with copper hood and electric spits; it backs (and shares tile chimney with) an outdoor barbecue. Farther to the right and beside the glass wall is the dining area. Thus, kitchen, brazier and dining area, while part of the livingroom, form an independent unit. The double chaise with cocktail table-ottomans, shown in the foreground, may be adjusted to face the pool or the food bar and portable TV.

Far left: livingroom bar stools are of oak, with revolving leather seats, by George Tanier, $120.

Left: master bedroom's cocktail table has oiled walnut base, by Burton-James Associates, $85.

Right: Eames' lounge chair, in master bath and on sun deck, has aluminum stretcher, Saran upholstery, $224.

Far right: master bedroom's upholstered lounge chair with teak frame, by Finn Juhl, $271.

Master Bath, left, has free-standing double wash basin, an indoor shower, an outdoor shower for a cooling rinse after sunbathing on the walled private patio (seen in background). Right-hand wall, not shown, is a woodpaneled partition which encloses toilet, provides linen storage and also holds slave stereo speakers and pullman vanity for girl-type guests. Sliding glass panels have floor-to-ceiling opaque draperies which may be closed against the sun.

Master Bedroom—highest and most private in the house — is seen here at night when its lounging area, which is contilevered over the water, gives it somewhat the feel of the stateroom of a yacht. A free-standing L-shaped enclosure shields the bed from the rest of the room and from the early-morning sun. Behind it, one may dress in privacy and have easy access to the bath and the clothespress with its built-in drawers and other closet fittings. The bedside table contains a master control panel which can be pre-set to turn on, dim or extinguish lights in various parts of the room, or to tune the hi-fi in or out, draw drapes across the window wall, floodlight the beach or pool. An upholstered couch backs the bed shield and is flanked by upholstered chairs, thus forming an intimate and separate room-within-a-room for casual entertaining or—as it's set up here—for a nightcap tête-à-tête. In warmer weather, the glass doors may be slid back to incorporate the nautical-style deck into the room.