A pool is one of the most calming and soothing design elements you can add to your home. A pool provides pleasure, a fun setting for children to play and splash, and an opportunity to entertain poolside and share a beautiful setting with friends and family. The sound of water is always inviting and today’s pools ensure there will be a water feature – a fountain, a waterfall – in almost every new pool.
While there are still many traditional rectangular pools in this area, particularly in older, established homes, the newest trend is to mimic the landscape and create pools in all sizes and curving shapes that present a softer look, surrounded by decks, patios, gazebos, even temple-like structures that serve as a sheltered area for poolside relaxing, dining and entertaining.
Many of the pools being built today are more than just a pool. They are an extension of the back of the home, featuring outdoor cooking, entertaining and dining areas and lush landscaping, appropriate to the region where the family lives with their pool.
These settings are an elaborate and functional addition to one’s back lawn. People are creating, with the help of pool builders, exterior designers and landscapers, their own island of nature’s paradise.
Creating a regal look
Beto Garcia moved to Oklahoma City from San Antonio 24 years ago to join Blue Haven Pools, which was established in 1954. As general manager of the company, he has designed and built more pools than he can remember. Today, he is very attuned to the changing trends in pools and the landscaping, the outdoor cooking and living areas and special water features, which people want today in and around their pools.
“People are now wanting natural looking pools or ponds – something that can give you that outdoorsy feeling like a spa or a retreat,†Garcia says.
He cites a new look in different interior finishes in pools and a new technology. “In the old days, we put colored dye into the final interior finish,†he says.
Now, Blue Haven and other companies are achieving a spectacular effect that involves miniscule glass beads or glass tiles that come in a range of nature’s water colors,†Garcia says, “These beads or tiles are not affected by the water chemistry or the sunlight, which often gives an iridescent glow when the sun hits them,†he says.
“Whatever color you have chosen to dress your pool will give you either absorbing (black) or refracting (white) light.
This magnificent color lets homeowners imagine they are in the Caribbean, the South Pacific or Mexico,†Garcia says,
A year-round pool
Caleb McCaleb is president of McCaleb Homes, a second generation company founded by his father, Neal. Caleb’s home, which backs up to Lake Arcadia, has one of the most spectacular pools in the area.
“We wanted to create a graceful flow of water and designed a waterfall at the top that flows into the pool, which has a free-flowing shape. The back of the pool has an infinity edge that flows into a lower pool area, which also has an infinity edge, which is one of the latest trends in pools. When McCaleb Homes hosted its Dream Home Tour last year, he said nine of the homes featured had an infinity-edge pool.
The McCalebs also added a creek so it looks like the water is coming through the creek into the pool. They also added a salt water filtration system – another trend – in place of the traditional chlorine. “It’s soft, like a comfortable bath and doesn’t burn your skin or eyes like chlorine,†McCaleb says.
Today’s pools are using more natural materials, especially a lot of flagstone around the edge of the pool, where people like to sit. His beach-entry pool also features a tiny rock from Australia – pebbletech – that is mixed in the plaster. It’s not a loose sand material, but rather a plaster for finishing the pool. A lot of stamped or stained concrete is also being used around today’s pools, he says.
Two years ago, the McCalebs added a fire pit on the back side near the pool and also added more evergreens and a lot of cypress trees. “We wanted a northwest style of landscaping to complement the pool, he says.
McCaleb never closes his pool, “I think pools are eyesores in the lawn when they are closed down and tarped over. I use my pool all year long. The pool is the focal point of the back lawn, along with the outdoor kitchen and comfortable seating and I like a year-round landscaping look around the pool.â€.
Antonio Aparicio, owner of Aquascape Pools, designed the McCalebs’ pool. Aparicio’s forte is designing pools that are unusual and he always complements the setting nature has provided. He likes to give each custom pool “its own special touch.â€
New pool cleaning devices
Guy Shipley of Cardinal Architect Pools has been building custom pools since 1959, so he’s seen many changes in pool design and construction. He likes the look of the new free-form pools, the popular water features and the endless look of the infinity or vanishing edge.
Creating unusual looks for pools is one of the favorite things he likes about the business. “Every pool we build also has an automatic-style cleaner. A lot of the people who have automatic cleaners wouldn’t even know how to vacuum. The old pool sweeps have definitely gone by the wayside,†Shipley says.
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