The Essentials of Poolscape Design
A well-conceived swimming pool landscape design can mean the difference between an area for fun, exercise and relaxation, and one good-looking enough to add some real value to your home. It's often comes as a shock to poolscape design professionals how little thought would-be owners of inground luxury pools spare for the design of a feature that could make their home and recreational area both more stylistically attractive and coherent. A plethora of factors will decide if your swimming pool landscape design promotes convenience, privacy and safety.
There is only one good option for busy individuals to ensure that attention is paid to the minutiae of their pool's construction and design. You'll need to hire a seasoned construction company, preferably one that your friends or family have recommended to you. Irresponsible or unscrupulously managed construction companies are notorious for dragging out work for far longer than it needs to take, making them a serious financial risk. If you're very lucky, you may be able to find a poolscape design company that will quote you a flat rate, rather than by day or by the hour, a system which only encourages slow work.
Possibly the best solution for a swimming pool landscape look that will be beautiful while also being immune to prying eyes is to surround it with greenery - plants tall and lush enough to form a screen around the perimeter. Of course, unless you plan to spend the other half of your free time dishing leaves out of the pool, you need to make your pick wisely. Large deciduous trees or even needle-bearing evergreens can be more trouble than they're worth, and fruit and flower trees, aside from being a source of obvious mess, attract flies, bees and wasps. Also, large trees with their correspondingly big root systems can cause damage to an inground swimming pool over the course of a few years.
The minimal amount of mess they'll create and their consistently beautiful, lush appearance makes evergreen trees your best bet, and they're also the most effective landscape privacy tool - with their year-round growth you won't suddenly find your private area naked (no pun intended) when the rainy season hits. Alternatively, you could install trellis walls and train vines to run up them. You can buy pre-trained trees, called Espaliers, which have been pruned and groomed to grow sideways, making them into a flat branch-barrier that will protect your privacy and even act as a windbreak.
Of course, if you're a parent or prospective parent, you may be more concerned about your young child falling in the pool than you are about good-looks or greenery. In that case, a fence or wall might be a good idea. You'll also probably want to double up on the security, and install a pool net. Not only will this keep your pool clean of detritus, but it should also hold the weight of any toddler or adult who happens to trip into the pool. Be sure that your hooks are solidly installed, and that the net is of a high quality polyfibre weave. If it's not, you're at a risk of a home drowning when the net wraps the person falling in - such accidents form a statistically significant percentage of home drownings.
On a lighter note, you need to remember that the area around your pool - the patio or deck- is one of the most luxurious things about having a pool. Relaxing in the sun before a pleasant dip is an activity in itself. If you plan to have pool parties, consider how people are apt to circulate through the area you're building. Don't ignore details like the tiles or flooring you use - go for terra-cotta tiles or rough wood over a surface that's going to be slippery and cause falls.
Last of all, keep in mind that it's the first sign of poor consideration for aesthetics when you renovate your home without any though for the old-fashioned appearance of the backyard pool. Think about style, and the best swimming pool landscape design to echo the new features of your home. Many custom designs may fit into a variety of architectural settings, meaning that if you choose a simple, elegant design for your dream swimming pool, it stands a good chance of outlasting the house.
To read more about Swimming Pool Landscaping click onto www.BestSwimmingPoolShop.com.
Published May 10th, 2009
Filed in Home