Pools & Spas Archives - Page 34 of 80

It was a Mid-Century Modern home that needed the right poolscape: That task was well within Kurt Kraisinger's design sweet spot, and he responded with a dramatic, low-slung vision complete with a fire feature, broad decks and a pizza oven -- not to mention a big, blue duck.

Managed Elevations

It definitely helps to have a good reputation within the local design community. In this case, an architect I've known for years and have worked with on numerous occasions - someone with whom I've gotten so familiar with on the job site that we've become good friends - called me in to meet clients who needed help beyond the work he was doing on their house. He thought we'd be a good fit, and he was right: From our first meeting, the clients and I

Some clients want all the benefits of a manufactured spa to go along with their inground pools. As Dave Hoffman explains here, there's a ready-made option for these folks, one that's easy to design into a poolscape so long as you keep a few basic practicalities in mind.

A Fuller Experience

I'd hazard the guess that most experienced pool designers and builders have run into this scenario: The clients want a pool, and they also want a spa - but not just any spa will do. Through the years, these clients have been in the attached spas of friends' inground concrete pools, but this is not what they want. That's because they've also experienced portable spas and prefer their performance: superior jet action, diverse seating arrays and options, more features and

To win this backyard project in competition with three big Atlanta architecture firms, Shane LeBlanc had to call on his eye for grand-scale details in creating a delightfully asymmetrical poolscape -- one that looks polished, inviting and fun from every conceivable angle.

Riverside Recreation

Sometimes, things come together in just the right way. I'd been called in to a multimillion-dollar property with a large, three-year-old house on it, right next to the Chattahoochee River on the northwestern fringe of Atlanta. There was an existing pool, but the homeowners wanted something new - a composition that befitted the home's elegance and said more about

Through the years, Brian Davis has been asked to try all sorts of 'wonder products' -- a process that has made him so skeptical that he tests almost everything he sees. As he discusses here, that included a thermo-polymer option to Portland cement-based pool finishes.

Weighing Possibilities

As a general contractor, I am steadily bombarded by information about new products that claim they will forever change the way I look at whatever category the novel gizmo occupies. This sort of marketing has turned me into a skeptic whenever I see something new come along, basically because experience and communication with other contractors have showed me that few of these novelties ever fully live up to the hype. Some contractors respond to this slippery situation by sticking solely with what they know, which, in my view, is

When it comes to refining the way mosaic tile projects come together, says Jimmy Reed, there's no substitute for persistence in working on intersections where surface planes flow into one another. It takes patience, he adds, and a crew trained to pursue visual perfection.

Following Lines

Through many years of applying small pieces of tile to the complex sorts of surfaces found in pools, spas and other waterfeatures, I find most of the challenges (and opportunities) come in figuring out intersections - that is, places where planes meet, contours change and, in general, a whole lot of attention needs to be paid to getting things just right visually. We at Rock Solid Tile (Calabasas, Calif.) have been fortunate to find ourselves involved in many projects in which

Colored plaster and aggregate finishes are found in more and more watershapes these days. But as Que Hales, Doug Latta and Kim Skinner discuss, not all pigments are created equal -- and knowing how to choose among the options can be the key to a project's success.

Pigments and Pools

There are few things prettier than the classic sky blue that results from the combination of white plaster and clear water. In recent times, however, amazing and even startling colors and color combinations are appearing within swimming pools and other watershapes courtesy of either integrally colored plaster, white plaster paste coupled with colored aggregate or colored paste with a colored aggregate. Various textures are also available courtesy of these finishes, with surfaces ranging from

Delicate Dynamics

‘One of the skills of a good designer is the ability to recognize those situations in which less is more.’ With those words, David Tisherman opened a landmark 2002 column that began changing the way the watershaping world looked at spa spillovers and other pool-related cascades. *** ‘Using [an] understated approach helps the designer or builder avoid

The inside of the client's home reflected her refined style sense, but the outside, well, not so much. That led Kurt Kraisinger to pursue a path that transformed her humdrum suburban backyard into a sleek Contemporary showpiece -- one with a subtly nautical presence.

Working the Angles

As a landscape architect, I generally approach projects with a balanced view of a space's potential. I weigh all of the possible elements in the prospective design, envisioning pools, spas, decking, lighting, shade structures and plantings as well as the flow from the inside of the home out into the backyard and the uses to which the homeowner intends to put the space. Every once in a while, however, the unique features of

When Ian McGregor approaches a backyard project, he does all he can to embrace the entire environment. In doing so for this project, he created connections between existing indoor spaces and new outdoor rooms that echo familiar functions while injecting dashes of fun.

Indoors Out

The modern concept of "outdoor living" took hold a long time ago - the very first time a homeowner set up a barbecue grill somewhere near the backyard pool, then figured out a way to enjoy a family meal al fresco. This sort of casual and mostly seasonal approach held on for decades, but approaches to outdoor living took a giant leap forward in the 1990s, when swimming pools started being joined in increasing numbers of backyards by

Beautiful glass tile can be the crowning touch for a great watershape. But if the budget's not really there, advises Paolo Benedetti, you should avoid the urge to cut corners with materials or installation to make it work: You'll only disappoint your client -- and hurt your bottom line.

Glass-Tile Dynamics

For quality watershapes, there's nothing like a finish made up of mosaic glass tile: The material has a great look and a spectacular texture, comes in amazing colors and offers a full range of visual effects, from complete transparency to shimmering iridescence. It's the perfect crowning touch for an outstanding project if the budget is right - and that's where the trouble often starts. Through the years, I've inspected more than 40 projects in which