Unless your back yard is the size of a football field, it’s likely that you notice your in-ground pool every time you go outside. It’s there. It’s big. It’s surrounded by concrete.
But your pool doesn’t have to be an unavoidable presence in an otherwise lovely view. A custom pool can actually contribute to the aesthetics of your yard, turning it from simply “a yard with a pool” into an appealing oasis. Here are a few custom features to make your pool, and your yard, truly distinctive.
A Custom Shape
In-ground pools come in a variety of standard shapes—the rectangle, the lazy L, the kidney—that give you a degree of choice for your pool design. But they’re still just… there. They’re an inorganic shape in the midst of an organic yard. With a custom shape, you can be confident that you’ll have something that fits in while standing out, complementing the contours of your yard and your personal aesthetic for a pool you genuinely like to look at.
Stone and Tile Surfaces
Bland expanses of poured concrete aren’t your only option for your pool deck. Inlaid stone walls and pavers and tile accents can beautify your pool deck and blend in with the colors of your house and yard. They can blend with the hardscaping of your yard, too—apply the stone accents on your pool deck to the retaining walls and borders around your gardens and edging, and your yard becomes one big, beautiful environment. Plus, with a gunite pool, you can bring those accents inside the pool itself for a truly unified look. Match the tile on your pool steps to the tile on your patio steps and enjoy the visual harmony.
Custom Colors
You can do more than just bring stone and tile accents into the pool. A gunite pool allows you to color-coordinate your pool with your home, yard, and general environment. You might like bright blue water, but if you don’t want a bright blue vinyl pool liner as well, you can have something a little more elegant instead.
Terraced Patios
A separate seating area, elevated above the activity on the pool deck below. An island in the middle of the pool, accented with loungers or landscaping or a hot tub with an overflow edge. A patio that follows the contours of your yard instead of cutting into them. Vertical elements like these add interest and dimension to your yard, making your pool a place to be and not just a hole in the ground filled with water.
Waterfalls and Grottos
Nothing brings nature into your yard like a waterfall in your pool or a secluded stone hideaway. Water trickling peacefully down a natural stone wall. A quiet little nook to get away from the kids’ splashing. Waterfalls bring extra beauty to a terraced patio or hot tub, making them an element of a larger aesthetic statement, flowing into the pool both visually and literally. Nooks and grottos add interest and uniqueness. It’s a tropical paradise, there behind your house.
Fountains
If you like your tranquil beauty with just a touch of drama, add a fountain or two (or three). Options range from dainty little arcs to sensational backyard geysers. Sit on your patio in the evening, sipping lemonade and watching the water dance in the light of the pool, relaxing, being thankful you decided to go fully custom.
A Cabana
Maybe it isn’t technically a feature of a custom pool, but as you’re designing the pool of your dreams, there’s no reason not to design the pool deck of your dreams as well. (Is it really the pool of your dreams if it doesn’t come with the pool deck of your dreams anyway?) There’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to climb out of the pool to enjoy a nice, shady place to lounge. And there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to look out your back window and see a little bit of luxury resort right there in your yard.
(The perfect addition to a cabana, of course, is an outdoor kitchen. That way, as you grill up your al fresco dinner—or mix your afternoon drinks—you can still converse with your guests and enjoy your own personal great outdoors.)
A Thing of Beauty
A pool can add to your property value and provide an opportunity for fun and relaxation right there at home. But it can also provide beauty to your yard. A custom pool, designed to fit your home, yard, and lifestyle, is like an expansion of your home that brings the outside in. It’s a little haven right outside your back door—a getaway that doesn’t require getting away.
