What Is It?
For the most part, the equipment sets that power pool and spa systems are placed outdoors in spaces near their watershapes. Maybe that's behind a gate along the side of the house, or behind some shrubs or a wall in a corner of the yard. Wherever they go, these equipment clusters should be positioned so that the noise made by various motors and pumps isn't so pronounced that it
Through the past 15 or 20 years, designers of custom swimming pools and spas have focused considerable attention on aesthetics and on making their clients' backyards easy on the eye. In crafting all of those integrated spaces in which nothing is out of place, they start by dismissing project elements that might stir up otherwise calm visual seas. For lots of designers, this has made them reluctant to consider such things as
Of all the new twists that have been added to the realm of swimming pool design in the last dozen or so years, one of my very favorites is on display in this video. I absolutely love the way acrylic walls add an exclamation point to just about any suitable project. I'm also of the opinion that, as watershape designers, we're only beginning to scratch the surface when it comes to exploiting their potential in our
For as long as I can remember, I've noticed that people with pools in their backyards tend to like to put big pots near the water: It's a nice touch that breaks up the horizontal plane and brings an easy sense of scale to the setting. The greenery and flowers can be nice, too. Watershape designers have gotten in on the act as well, inserting pots into projects as visual anchors, as is the case in the project on display in the video linked below: We used them here not only to
For as long as I can remember, I've noticed that people with pools in their backyards tend to like to put big pots near the water: It's a nice touch that breaks up the horizontal plane and brings an easy sense of scale to the setting. The greenery and flowers can be nice, too. Watershape designers have gotten in on the act as well, inserting pots into projects as visual anchors, as is the case in the project on display in the video linked below: We used them here not only to
I know they’ve been around for quite a while, but in our marketplace, beach entries are the latest thing these days – maybe hotter than ever before. The enthusiasm makes sense: Beach entries give bathers a way to dip into the water and take up a spot in the pool or on a lounge chair without making a full commitment to getting soaked. Better yet, we get a lot of sun in Texas, and these spaces can easily be rigged with umbrella stanchions – a cool
This was a fun project in lots of ways – not the least of which involved figuring out how to fit a skimmer into the system without completely disrupting the clean look of the coping-only treatment of the pool’s perimeter. Usually, of course, pools at grade level are
For a while there, it seemed like most pool/spa combinations were being built with raised spas – that is, systems in which the level of the spa was set above the level of the pool, with the connection between the vessels made by means of a spillway of some sort. Recently, however, some of our clients have opted for a different approach in which the pool and spa appear to
It’s a case of familiarity breeding neglect: Pool and deck contractors work with so much mastic through the years that it’s easy for them to take this wonderful material for granted. And that’s a shame, because I’ve run into plenty of clients who are plainly interested in learning what function these rubbery joints serve and why they’re a necessary part of the package. The video linked below offers an
Among all of the details included in residential swimming pools and spas, some of the most apparent and most easily explained have to do with safety. But that doesn’t mean that homeowners will get the idea on their own – especially when they confront a detail as subtly useful as
