preparation
'As winter draws to a close here in the northeast,' wrote Bruce Zaretsky to start his May 2009 On the Level column, 'we begin preparing in earnest to deal with the inevitable springtime rush. There are contracts to sign, materials to order, plants to grow, schedules to set and hires (if any) to be made. And we do all of this knowing that, once the weather breaks, we want to burst out of the gate like an odds-on favorite at the Kentucky Derby. 'To make this happen,' he continued, 'we
'Over and over at seminars and trade shows, watershapers ask me three distinct but interrelated questions: "How do you get into the high-end market?" and "How do you deal with wealthy customers?" and "How do you handle those kinds of jobs?" 'The short answer to all of them,' began Brian Van Bower in his Aqua Culture column in the April 2004 issue of WaterShapes, ' is that I've set myself up for it and am prepared to
One of the things we value most in our fountain projects is that no two of them are ever the same. I can make that same statement about our custom pool projects, of course, but it's a matter of degree: Where uniqueness from pool to pool is about selecting just the right possibilities among shapes, elevations and materials, for instance, from fountain to fountain it's about inventing and adapting technology and pushing accepted limits to make ideas work. The fountain under discussion in this article is a perfect illustration of that distinction. Making it happen was about
Among the best things about Philadelphia is its stock of public art - and that's not accidental: For many years, all construction projects in specific neighborhoods reaching certain dollar thresholds have been required to include an accessible work of art within their footprints. Whether it's a sculpture, a mural, a statue celebrating a Founding Father or a waterfeature, the city now boasts more than 1,000 of these art pieces, each one part of an outstanding cultural and historical landscape. One of our recent projects fit within this program: Located just across the way from Independence Hall, it's part of a
Natare (Indianapolis, IN) offers AlkorPlan, a durable, watertight pool lining system that is easily installed…
In the course of my career, I've worked with blue-chip clients from rock stars and professional athletes to Hollywood celebrities and business tycoons. It may be my sparkling personality, but, realistically, I think it has more to do with the way I have with glass tile and custom mosaics associated with beautiful swimming pools. My company, Rock Solid Tile of Calabasas, Calif., has worked all over Los Angeles through the years, taking its
Every year at about this time, I survey my backyard and make certain everything is ready for summer - patio furniture, grill, deck, shade sails, misting system and, probably most important given our usual summer lifestyle, the pool and spa. This year, however, my examination of the watershapes in particular
As was mentioned a few episodes back, in designing this particular pond we settled on a filtration system that made the most sense for the setting and the situation - and now it's time to show you how we install its permanent gravel bed. As the video shows, it's a straightforward process of rinsing the material to get rid of as much dust as possible and doing what I can to cull any smaller-than-desired chunks of gravel that might
