For Pool Lovers – Rockin’ Your Flip-Flops -2-

For my second article in the “For Pool Lovers” Series, one of the first things you need to decide is how prevalent you want the pool to be relative to your main living spaces. 

A few questions you might want to ask yourself are: 

1. How often will we really use the pool? (Mostly based on your climate)
2. How many months of the year will the pool potentially be ‘unsightly’ due to weather?
3. Will we entertain at the pool and the house or should these be somewhat separate from each other?
4. Do we need a separate pool house and/or covered porch?
5. …and particularly, what sort of shape and style of pool fits my house and my needs?

The house above, for instance, was specifically designed around the sun and providing shade in a screen porch attached to the house.  Immediately as you enter the home, you are visually “drawn outside” through large patio doors to the pool.  The living spaces of this home are intended to connect as much as possible to the pool.

This addition was designed around physically connecting to the pool, but minimizing the view to it as much as possible.

This particular pool design took a somewhat different approach; to be somewhat hidden from the main spaces, but still physically connected.  The topography slopes somewhat towards the pool, so it is less visible from the living spaces.  It is also hidden from view when you enter the house and it isn’t the center of attention either.  

The design of this pool could have been either rectangular or more organically shaped; its design is less informed by the house, in some ways.  This pool does not have a covered porch nearby, but was intended to have shade provided by trees and landscaping instead.