Which of our rooms look over the pool
Two of our room types are built around the pool view: the Atelier Suite and the Signature Room. A third, the Elegance Room, faces either the garden or the pool, so treat the pool as a possibility there rather than a promise. Everything else in the house looks onto the garden or the street side.
We're a small house. There are 29 rooms and suites across two floors at 7418 Harding Avenue, and the pool sits in the middle of all of them. That shapes the view more than any brochure line could. You're looking down at one courtyard, not out over a resort.
| Room | View | Size | Beds | Sleeps | How many we have |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atelier Suite | Pool | About 500 sq ft | King, plus a sofa bed | Up to 4 | 2 |
| Signature Room | Pool, from a Juliet balcony | 260 sq ft | King | 2 | 4 |
| Elegance Room | Garden or pool | Not listed | King | 2 | Several |
The Atelier Suite: the one that truly opens to the water
The Atelier Suite is the room to book if the pool view is the point of the trip. It's laid out as two rooms: a bedroom with a king bed, and a separate living room with a sofa bed. Both keep the water in view. That makes it the one suite where you can sit on the sofa with a coffee and watch the light move across the courtyard while someone else is still asleep next door.
At just over 500 square feet it's one of our larger rooms. The bathroom has a double vanity and a walk-in shower. There are only two Atelier Suites in the house, so they go first in high season. If you're travelling as three or four, this is also the practical choice, since the sofa bed takes the extra guests.
The Signature Room: a Juliet balcony over the pool
The Signature Room is smaller and made for two. It centres on a king bed, and its Juliet balcony opens onto the pool. A Juliet balcony is a set of doors with a rail rather than a terrace you step out onto, so you won't be taking breakfast outside here. What you get is the doors open in the morning and the turquoise keeping the room company until the last swim.
At 260 square feet it's a room for sleeping, reading and heading out. We have four of them, which makes it the easier pool-view room to find on a given night. The bathroom has a walk-in shower.
The Elegance Room: garden or pool
The Elegance Room is a calm king room that looks toward either the garden or the pool, depending on which one you're given. If a pool view matters to you, tell us when you book and we'll note it. If the garden side comes up instead, you're looking into the palms, which is the quieter of the two outlooks anyway.
What you're actually looking at
The Courtyard Pool is an intimate pool by resort standards, and deliberately so. It sits at the centre of the courtyard, wrapped in teak decking laid in the same yacht-deck pattern Felix used through the rest of the house, with native palms shading the edges. The courtyard holds the sun from mid-morning until the light goes gold on the stucco.
By day, light plates and cold drinks are brought out to the deck. After dark the water stills and the courtyard turns to low, warm light. The pool itself is open from sunrise to sunset. The courtyard is especially peaceful in the morning, and in a house this size you'll often have the water to yourself before the heat sets in.
The pool is for our guests only. We don't sell day passes to the pool or the gym, and our house is for guests aged 12 and over, so there's no shallow-end splashing at 9am. Quiet luxury you feel rather than see.
Before you book a pool-view room
A few things are worth knowing before you choose:
- Stairs: our house has a ground floor and an upper level, and the upper level is reached by stairs only. If stairs are a concern, mention it when you book.
- Party size: only the Atelier Suite sleeps more than two. The Signature Room and Elegance Room are king rooms for two.
- Fees: rates carry a 14% tax and a $50 resort fee on top of the nightly rate.
- Check-in: from 4pm, with check-out at 11am. Our front desk is staffed around the clock if you land late.
The beach is a short walk from the gate, and we have sunbeds and umbrellas waiting there too. Most guests end up doing both: the sand in the late morning, the courtyard pool in the afternoon. This is the slower Miami.