Building a Cabana

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In this homeowner's Hollywood-inspired vision of the perfect pool, a cabana was a must-have. It turned out to be a practical necessity, too. "We absolutely wanted a place to store all the pool gear and chemicals and to hide the equipment," Genine Tillotson says. She chose a ready-to-assemble kit from Summerwood Outdoors (www.summerwood.com). The kits come with everything you need for do-it-yourself construction — precut studs, siding, rafters, joists, nails, and other materials — or as prebuilt panels ready for quick assembly. They're available in a variety of styles and sizes, with a long list of options for roof shapes, doors and windows, siding materials, interior appointments, even cupolas and weather vanes. The Tillotsons' 12-by-14 foot unit cost about $8,500 off the truck; they spent another $4,000 for a found and floor slab, a carpenter, a painter, , and shingles to match the ones on their house. Like any form of storage, the cabana filled up fast. "I wish it was at least two feet long and wider," Tillotson says.

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