Lavender Hues

Desi Award Winner It was direct orders from their doctor that lead Judge Harry and Mary Peetris to design one of the most fabulous indoor pools ever imagined. "We were enjoying our estate home and outdoor pool in Spanish Trails when we were medically advised not to be in direct sunlight," the judge said. So with a do-it-yourself spirit and his many years of work on environmental court cases - including the Erin Brockovich case - the judge and his wife designed a 2,400-square-foot indoor pool complex complete with a gourmet kitchen, spa, fountain and entertainment room. And you can't forget their most unique home theater with the 84-inch screen hanging over the swimming pool, right next to the disco ball. And to set the mood, the ultimate lighting with a Lutron zone set-up casts a warm lavender hue. Imagine preparing a wonderful meal in a first-rate kitchen, then stepping down a few steps to enter the warm swimming pool and watch your favorite movie while waiting for your guests to arrive. Some people (including this editor) might call this a touch of heaven. But it's more than a gorgeous and comfortable room for the Peetrises, it's the never center of their home. They both love swimming and can now enjoy it year round. However designing a complex like this without creating humidity, rust, mold or a smell of chlorine had the judge doing extra duty. But with the help of a few experts he pulled it all together. The room was completed two years ago and there's never been any mold or rust at all. A computer adjusts the air, water and humidity all at the touch of a button. The room can be used 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Earlier this year photos of this fabulous pool room overwhelmed the judges of the 2002 Desi Awards. The design took top honors in the homeowners design category of the Desis which are sponsored by our sister publication Finishing Touches, the American Interior Designers Association, and the American Institute of Architecture.

When large, complicated legal battles bog down in the court system, drowning in a stormy sea of details, the smart man calls Harry Peetris.

Peetris, a retired Los Angeles Superior Court judge, is an expert in settling cases that, at first glance, appear impossible to resolve. Peetris immerses himself in the conflict - organizing, scrutinizing, assessing - and comes up with a fair and equitable judgment for all involved.

Peetris' expertise in handling big, complex projects was put to good use recently when he and his wife, Mary, embarked on an ambitious home improvement project at their home in southwest Las Vegas' Spanish Trail neighborhood. Successful completion of the project required high levels of creativity and persistence - the very attributes Peetris puts to work in his professional life.

The project came into being as a logical solution to a pesky problem. The Peetris' backyard pool was constantly littered with leaves, styrofoam cups, construction materials - you name it and the southwesterly winds ushered it into their swimming hole. The pool man was backwashing the pool every two weeks, rather than the usual twice a year. He might as well have rented a room at the house, considering how much time he spent there struggling to keep the pool clean.

The solution, the Peetrises concluded, was to enclose the pool. They knew it wouldn't be cheap or easy, but they could think of no reasonable alternative if they wanted to enjoy their pool in hot, dry Las Vegas.

Rather than hiring an architect and letting him or her design the project, the Peetrises took matters into their own hands. Relying on their substantial experience in house construction - they'd built several over the years in Southern California - Harry and Mary hired various local contractors to implement their vision.

"My wife designed it and I did the nuts and bolts," Harry says, noting that Mary served as the de facto foreman on the project.

The result is truly breathtaking. What was once a fairly typical outdoor patio and pool area has been transformed into a one-of-a-kind, 2,400-square-foot, high-ceilinged room that does a whole lot more than simply protect a body of water from the elements. It is now the place where the couple spends the bulk of their time.

"It's a fun room," Harry Peetris says, in the understatement of the century. "We're out here all the time."

There's a lot involved in enclosing a pool. You can't just throw up a roof and some walls and start swimming. There are concerns about mold, rust and heat. As a result, extensive systems are required to control the climate. The Peetrises went all out in that regard. First of all, everything is waterproofed. The pool water is heated and the air temperature is controlled using top-of-the-line digital monitors. Dehumidifying equipment prevents the YMCA effect - the sticky, muggy feeling you get at many public indoor pools. Five percent fresh air is flowing into the room 24/7.

"It's fresher than in the house," Harry says. Despite large west-facing windows, the room remains cool and fresh, and it lacks the chlorine odor common to most backyard pools.

Some aspects of the project were so new to Las Vegas that the county building department didn't have any guidelines about them in its code book. Harry put on his judge's robe and worked through the impasse.

The Peetrises' pool room is not only a place to swim, it's a place to watch television, cook dinner and have parties and family get-togethers. Probably the most amazing aspect of the room is the home theater. Looming 20 feet above the pool is an 84-inch screen, on which a Runco projector displays crystal-clear images. Using a Crestron digital remote control, they can call up cable, satellite or a DVD (and adjust the lighting as well). They retained HP Media Group to install the system (also waterproofed), which offers theater-quality visuals and sound for folks lounging poolside.

"Nobody has duplicated this in Las Vegas," Harry says.

At the other end of the room is Mary's pride and joy, an efficiently designed, fully equipped kitchen. A stainless steel Viking Professional range is surrounded by emerald green granite countertops. There's also a small refrigerator, wine cooler, microwave, dishwasher and titanium sink. Next to the kitchen is a dining area that overlooks the hot tub. There's also a 27-inch television in the kitchen that shows the same programs as the big screen over the pool.

Another nifty feature of the pool room is a full bathroom, which the Peetrises are proud to say was carved out of a space that once was a planter. A large shower is available for pre- and post-swim outings.

Of course, one reason the Peetrises' pool room is unusual, and perhaps the only one of its kind in Southern Nevada, is that such an amenity doesn't come cheap. When all was said and done, Mary calculates that they spent $650,000 on their project.

Clearly, the project took on a much larger vision than simply keeping litter out of the pool. They have transformed their pool and patio into a comfortable, useful and inspiring living space, the centerpiece of which offers the most popular mode of coping with the harsh Mojave Desert climate: a convenient and carefree dip in the pool.