POOL PROJECTS

 




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Functional and Fun

The neighborhood favorite no doubt. A huge swimming pool with a silde AND a diving board. This pool offers plenty of walking room on all sides and has a beautiful colored concrete and stone stair case that leads to the top of the slide.

The decking actually has three colors; one is an integral additive mixed into the batch, the other two are what is known as "dust-ons" and are spread unevenly as a topical over the entire surface to create a natural "Terra-Cotta" appearance. We finished all the concrete with rock salt.

To the left of this gigantic pool sits a quaint little outdoor kitchen with four stool seats and an eating bar. Ever feel like having a barbeque in the rain? No problem! This little kitchen is sheltered by a solid-roof over head structure.

This backyard is the ultimate family-friendly place to be. On the opposite end, beyond the large expanse of lawn, there is a massive play structure complete with the works.



Sweet and Simple

Sometimes less is more. Simple can often be much more appealing than over-the-top and gaudy. This swimming pool for example, takes on soft curved lines, a gently raised spa and a rich red brick coping to create a difinitive edge. The look is very refreshing. With the ice-blue water and deep blue tile this pool can be called classical and clean.

Plenty of room for diving and swimming! Or, maybe you'd like to take-5 in the bubbly spa and watch the kids splash around with their friends.

Another great feature about this pool is the safety factor it offers.  The coping is appropriately named "Safety Grip". (Shown best in the Bottom-Right photo) This product actually turns upward at the water's edge so that swimmers can grab hold of the coping and even if the surface is wet, they can maintain a sure grip. And this coping comes in nearly all the same colors that bricks come in.

 



Entertaining in Elegance

Some of our favorite projects are made up of several factors; use of the space, color and texture use, and the client. This project was a great pleasure to work on.

This pool offers a moderate amount of swimming room and a cozy raised spa. The yard offers a barbeque island with a sizeable redwood overhead, and enough lawn for the family to play on. All-in-all, this project has a bit of everything. The unique raised walls behind the pool run the length of the back fence and contain a colorful assortment of plants.

The concrete decking and concrete wall caps are lightly colored with an integral color additive and finished with rock salt.

 

Desert Mirage.

A charming oasis amid a backdrop fit for scores of guests.

Freeform at its finest. A misshappen swimming pool difined with a tasteful mix of Moss Rock boulders, silvery Quartzite stone and colored concrete at its perimeter. Tucked inside one of its many curves, sits a peaceful rock fall And to the left, just opposite of the fall, a three-tiered founatin adds a touch of classic modern appeal.

This is it! An expanse of deck for all your friends, a cabana of sorts (not shown) for sheltered cooking and eating, and a warm deep blue spa with a calming rock fall.



Jewel of the Mediterranean

This spectacular swimming pool brings the oasis-amid-the-desert into a charming backyard. As you descend into a cobalt paradise your toes will glide across the pool's smooth, tiled interior and you can listen to the ribbons of water splash down from the three bronze medallions mounted on on the raised wall. This is truly unique with hand painted blue and white Moroccan tile at the waterline and multi-colored, hand painted tiles decoratively placed among the sculpted raised wall at the pool's edge and within the center mosaic. (Shown best in the bottom photo to the left and the photo directly below)





When you are finished, close the automated pool cover to help regulate the temperature and keep out debris.

Pina-colada anyone?

Even as you first step down into the water you will notice the attention to detail. Each step has been edged with a constrasting powder blue "quarter-round" tile piece. (shown in the lower right photo.) This makes it easier to locate the end of each step, creating a safer place to swim.

"Brown-Flashed" bullnosed brick is used as coping at the pool's edge, constrasting nicely with the pool's dark blue tile and the light color of the surrounding decking. This same brick also sits atop the raised wall behind the pool and all of the raised walls throughout the landscaping. The decking is made of Arizona Sandstone in "Buckskin" and has been cut into 18"x18" tiles and sealed. These lightly textured stone tiles have been placed on a diagonal pattern that really seems to play up the Meditterranean tone.

Swim vigerous laps, play a challenging game of water-vlooeyball, (this is a "sport-pool"; the deep end is in the center) or just float around for hours.



Having it all

(Check out the landscape page to see this project also.)

A glistening rock fall, "Tahoe-Blue" water...

life is good.

A rich blend of products including Moss Rock boulders for the waterfall, and Three-Rivers stone for the decking bring a sort of earthy atmosphere to this peaceful backyard retreat.

Inside the pool we've installed "Tahoe Blue" Peeble Tec; an aggregate product that can be substitued for the standard plaster interior. Pebble interiors help to bring out the natural look of the pool. (If natural is what you're looking for.)

 





Gala of the Gods?

Built with Zeus in mind, this pool boasts exstravagance fit for Olympus. Walk out from beaneath the sizable shade arbor supported with Classic Roman-styled columns to the cool, cobalt blue water. Enter this pool from the steps nearest the arbor, or from either of the two sides. (Shown best in center photo). As you lazily glide about, listen to the lions.

In the top photo you can see white lion-head fountains mounted on the face of the raised walls that embrace the back end of this pool. From a cozy chair, perhaps below the arbor, gaze out upon the Three Muses--the daughters of Zeus now captured in stone clasping a shallow bowl overhead with sparkling water pouring gracefully over them and into the water below. This statue, a must-have for the client, stands on a clevery hidden platform built from within the strong gunite shell and conceals the pipe that runs through its middle and that of the statue to provide a continuous sheet of water.

The raised walls offer interest of their own. Each is faced front-to-back with a 1" tile that matches the 6"x6" waterline tile. A brillant combination of deep blues, purples and golds that seem to bring movement to the wall as the sun shifts in the sky.

 





Quartzite is a brillant, shimmering stone that is lightly textured and shines with little flecks of clear quartz. Like little diamonds.


Diamonds in the rough

This immaculate project came together very well. A simple color pallet is often the most effective. This is a great example of the beauty one can achieve through simplicity.

The spacious decking is made of Quartzite flagstone, the rock waterfall was built with El Dorado Bluestone, and and spa was faced and capped with Quartzite stone.

The pool's waterline tile and its matching 1" trim tile is a light sea-green and the pool's interior is "Sea-foam green" Pebble Sheen.

This pool has it all! See a sweep? Of coarse you don't, this pool has an in-floor cleaning system. A series of small heads shoot powerful jets stritigically along the pool's floor, seats, and steps; blowing all of the debris toward a suction drain.

Plenty of room to swim, a spa for four, and ample space for friends to mingle.

 



A Touch of European style.

Reminiscent of Europe in more ways than one. A clean 16" wide New England Bluestone coping maintains the formal shape and ads a sense of cool mossy ruins to the project.

A small seating area, also made with the Bluestone material, extends behind the pool and has been used to cover the entire top step that leads into the pool.

A classical shade arbor stands neatly behind the pool, offering a bit of protection from the hot summer sun. The pool was finished with "Irish Mist" Pebble Sheen; a finer aggreagte than the before mentioned Pebble Tec.



Utterly unique

While offering little more than space enough for only a refreshing dip, this pool features a very unique design.
Limited space doesn't always mean limited potential. In fact, we see it as an opportunity to invoke the imagination. Taking into consideration all of the needs of each client; location, asthetics, sounds, etc.

With plenty of deck room, this pool doubles as an exquisite water feature. In the top photo you can see the three pillars, each plumbed for and fitted with a hand-crafted "spitter" of sorts. (shown best in bottom photo.) Along the top of each pillar and again on the top of the raised wall, you can see the concrete cap poured to match the decking.

Even the waterline tile, with its multi-tones and colors, lends itself to the splender of this pool. Covered with the same 3"x3" tile used at the waterline, each of the pillars has been built outward, tapering each layer smaller than the last. And to define these "layers" we placed 1" glass tiles to act as a border and accent. Each pillar stands more as an artform rather than stone blocks and concrete as water flows in an unbroken, glistening ribbon from its center.


Completely classic

We refer to this shape as "Grecian." This pool is just as fancy as its name and fits well with the classic formal facade of the house (not shown). The red brick coping matches the brick used throughout the rest of the site and the "Arizona Red' 3/8" seeded aggregate concrete follows suite with the existing patio (not shown).

Completely classic

Keeping up appearances! Doubling as a graceful waterfeature, this pool has so many unique features such as a custom-made Sheer Descent spill-way that creates a curved sheet of water from the center of the wall.

 

Completely classic

Among other things, the details have not been over looked. Shown best in the left photo, 1" cut glass tiles have been evenly spaced and set in the wall of 'Lilac Mist" slate that has been set on a diagonal pattern. When the sun radiates down on these glass tiles, the effect is stunning.

Completely classic

Speaking of stunning...that same glass tile has been placed along the edge of each step and seat as a striking accent. A 3" wide rows of these tiles have also been placed along the pool's floor to create a racing or lane line (shown best in top-most photo).

"Blue Granite" Pebble Sheen was used to finish the pool, adding a crisp contrasting finish. We love it!

 

Think Outside the "Boulder"

True, Moss Rock boulders add a "natural" charm to a freeform pool, but they are not the only option. This pool, for example, utilizes flat pieces of randomly shaped flagstone stacked on top of one-and-other to create a retainer-wall along one side. This construction method was also used to build the waterfall. The water gently cascades for one level to the next, downward to the cool water. The effect is very much the same as with Moss Rock, the look however, is quite distintive.

You will notice that this pool has gone in a different direction with its coping as well. A contrast to the ever-so-common red brick, this product is actually more grey in color, with an almost blue-ish cast--picking up the earthy tones from within the stacked stones.

 
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