It's been a while, eh? Call it winter blues... color it lazy... maybe a bit of both. This winter has taken it's toll on me and today I sit here with a bit of Laryngitis - so it's come to the point where there is literally nothing else to do but sit around and dream of spring... which brings me to the topic of today's post.
Did I ever mention that last summer we decided to bite the bullet and have a pool installed? It was, by far, the biggest home improvement project we have EVER undertaken, but it was so worth it. A little history: We have a very very very small lot in our town. We live on a corner and when we bought the house, we had a driveway that was ginormous and way too big for our needs. My husband looked at it as a gift from God and I looked at the driveway as a waste of precious entertaining space. I had these beautiful doors coming out of my kitchen in to my driveway?!? Um... no thank you.
Here's what our driveway looked like "before" my plan. Lots of pavers... lots of blah. This first pic is only 1/2 of the driveway. It extends another 25' to the street behind me.
And the deck. Yum, right?
So, the wheels were turning. First, my plan was to hatch a plan and then pitch that plan to my husband.....who hates plans. :) And so I did it gingerly and using photoshop as my best friend. I knew that above all else, I wanted a "back yard" that I could entertain in, eat dinner in, hang out with my family and just BE. I wasn't necessarily sold on a pool per se, but I started with that because it was the obvious choice for my kids ultimate entertainment option.
You can see in the below plan that I measured (roughly) to get a feel for the space and what would fit. Funny enough, this is very very close to what we ended up with - though in my original plan, I didn't account for the ridiculous cost of retaining walls and steps and labor, so we scaled back bit. We also didn't incorporate a hot tub as originally planned.
We have a 14x28 pool surrounded by white travertine. The green trees on the right are existing arbor vitae, so we love the privacy they provide. Definitely staying. In this design I have a 1 car driveway - reusing the existing pavers to replace the driveway and sidewalk.
And where you see the green and white checkerboard, I was loving the idea of big slabs of stone surrounded by mossy texture. I wanted something very italian and rustic.
We have a 14x28 pool surrounded by white travertine. The green trees on the right are existing arbor vitae, so we love the privacy they provide. Definitely staying. In this design I have a 1 car driveway - reusing the existing pavers to replace the driveway and sidewalk.
And where you see the green and white checkerboard, I was loving the idea of big slabs of stone surrounded by mossy texture. I wanted something very italian and rustic.
So, this is what I presented to my better half. And he balked at me. Laughed at me. Called me INSANE. Told me that I had lost my mind. Over and over and over.... for about 3 weeks. Seriously. Endless ridicule over my awful idea.
3 weeks later.....
He approaches me and says, "could it be a salt water pool?"
BELLS! DINGS! WOO HOOS!!! Keeping my calm - as usual - I quietly said, "of course. I think that would be a benefit to our daughters and their health."
Side note: for those that don't know our family, both of our daughters have Cystic Fibrosis. Salt water is a known treatment for CF, and while the salt content of a pool is lower than a treatment, it certainly can't hurt to swim in a salt water pool.
So, after the month long ridicule, my better half was on board with our plan. As an good wife would feel, I was 100% understanding of his need to take the time to make such a large decision. But secretly I was also screaming "I WIN!!!" in my head. :)
All of this took place in the months of deep dark winter depression. We spent days on inspiration, weeks on the details - the corners of the pool, the fence, the decking, the furniture... it was exhausting and exhilarating and we truly had a ball designing our pool.
We wanted a rectangular modern sport pool. A sport pool is shallow on both ends and deep in the middle. I wanted 90 degree corners and hidden interior corner steps. We wanted deck jets to shoot fountains into the pool to help with neighborhood noise. And I wanted travertine because it stays cool under feet. And I also wanted to reuse the old brick from our sidewalks as a raised patio of sorts. Those were the parameters.
Inspiration photos:
Our house is lined by 100 year old brick sidewalks. They are coming up and falling apart, so it is my hope to use them in the pool area as an accent.
I love the simplicity of this. Clean lines.
And I SWOON over the bamboo fence. To.die.for.
These are the steps I love. I want interior corner steps covered by the same color as the liner so they blend in. No railing or disruption of the lines at all.
Finally, I love this gray, the color of the water. It's all perfect. This image proved to me that a pool could be beautiful in a small space. This, I love.
And so it began... Part 2 coming up soon. :)
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