Pool Designs and Ideas
What could be better than having a cocktail poolside? How about never leaving the pool to get one? Swim-up bars are a popular feature in many resort and hotel pools, as well as high-end residential pools. They are often designed to be visually appealing and can be customized to fit the overall style and aesthetic of the pool area. They are quickly becoming a must-have in backyard pools. Looking for inspiration? Here are 12 Swim-Up bars located within popular resorts around the world.
What is a Swim up Pool Bar?
A swim-up pool bar is a feature in a swimming pool that allows swimmers to enjoy drinks and snacks without having to leave the water. It is typically a bar or counter located at the edge of the pool, with submerged barstools or seating that allow swimmers to stay in the water while they eat and drink.
Swim-up bars offer a unique and luxurious swimming experience to any pool design. They are also a practical way to entertain guests. Food and drinks can be served in the pool. They can also be a great way to stay cool and refreshed on hot summer days. Even if you don’t have a swim-up bar, submerged barstools, table and an umbrella also offer a relaxing way to stay cool and enjoy a tasty beverage.
If you’re considering adding a swim-up bar to your home pool, here are some advantages to consider:
Convenience:
A swim-up bar provides a convenient way to enjoy food and drinks without having to leave the pool. This can be especially convenient for parties or gatherings, as it allows guests to socialize and enjoy refreshments without having to get out of the water.
Entertainment:
A swim-up bar can be a great addition to a backyard pool for entertaining guests. It can create a fun and luxurious atmosphere that is perfect for summer parties and gatherings.
Aesthetics:
A swim-up bar can add a stylish and modern touch to your pool area. It can be designed to complement the overall design and aesthetic of your pool and backyard, and can help to create a luxurious and resort-like atmosphere.
Value:
Adding a swim-up bar can increase the value of your home and make it more attractive to potential buyers, should you decide to sell your home in the future.
Fun and relaxation:
Swimming up to a bar and enjoying a drink while relaxing in the water can be a fun and enjoyable way to unwind after a long day. It can also be a great way to beat the summer heat and stay cool and refreshed.
Building a Pool
Landscaping is about more than just planting a few flowers and bushes around your pool. It’s about planning and creating a pool environment that’s easy to get to — and hard to leave. Your first step is to get inspired. It can be a movie, a native flower or a planter you just couldn’t resist. You can also find inspiration from different gardening styles. Just find ideas you love and build from there.
Next, design your deck and plan your walkways. After the pool itself, your deck is the foundation for your landscape design. Walkways are important, too — you want to make access to your pool area easy so your plants don’t get trampled.
Now it’s time to start planting! You’ll want to choose plants that will flourish in your geographic area, so check with your local nurseries before you buy. You can also enlist the help of a professional landscape designer. Either way, it helps to know the lingo and the common pitfalls to avoid.
With the right information, inspired ideas and, perhaps, a fabulous landscape designer, you’re on your way to creating a lush and beautiful environment that adds depth and color to your back yard — and more enjoyment to your pool. Love your view as much as you love your pool!
Additional landscaping components that will compliment any pool can be found below.
Outdoor Is In!
Where you live, how much you entertain, and how you like to relax will help guide your decision on what to include in your backyard landscaping plans. The key to great outdoor entertaining is making sure that you and your guests feel just as comfortable as they would be indoors.
Turn your backyard pool area into an entertainment retreat with a lounging and eating area or a refreshment bar along with a hot tub. Add a pergola or gazebo for extra shade and privacy, a trickling waterfall, and a patio area complete with bar and grill and you’ll never have to leave your home for an exotic winter vacation.
Barbeque Islands
Not too long ago, if you wanted to entertain outdoors without leaving the comfort of your home, you would break out the charcoal, the lighter fluid, the hibachi or the old three-legged grill.
Today the line between indoor and outdoor entertaining has become increasingly blurred. Outdoor entertaining truly has the potential to be the ultimate in luxury and convenience. Outdoor barbeque island designs are varied enough to range from meeting the most basic demands to gourmet islands fit for the most talented chefs. These high-end barbeque islands can house a wide range of appliances like drop-in or slide-in gas grills, refrigerators, ice makers, sinks, wet bars, warmers, and ovens as well as provide ample space for preparing food and storing dinnerware.
Kitchen islands are now designed for outdoor installation so that meals can be prepared, served and cleaned up without ever leaving the comfort of your own “outdoor room”. With the latest products on the market for outdoor entertaining, there is no need to take a single step inside your home.
Water Features
Stress is a fact of life in today’s hectic society. With the demands of work, school, families and a never-ending list of hobbies and activities, many find it nearly impossible to find a moment to relax, whether alone or with friends and family. That’s why it’s so important to create a tranquil environment to combat the effects of everyday tension on your mind, body and soul. Water is the most nurturing of all the elements, yet we frequently take its restorative properties for granted. By incorporating a few simple water elements into your backyard landscape, you can create a tranquil oasis to soothe frayed nerves at the end of the day. By utilizing water features creatively with pools, spas, water gardens and fountains, homeowners can create an individual and inviting sanctuary in their outdoor living space.
Lighting
Enhancing your poolscape with lighting not only makes your backyard a safer environment, it also adds a decorative effect. Enhance your pool’s special features with attractive lighting. Fiber optics, perimeter, floating and color-changing lighting will create delightful nighttime gatherings.
Pool Slides
There is no better way to celebrate the times of your life than right at home. Try to imagine a private water park in your backyard, a centerpiece for summer holiday celebrations, entertaining friends, and enjoying the warmer months to the fullest!
While limited space and sloping landscapes require special design solutions, this same landscape provides an ideal opportunity to easily incorporate fun and excitement into your backyard paradise. Whether a gentle, sloping slide into your refreshing water retreat, or a twisting slide through a rocky mountainside, entering your swimming pool will be an experience in itself. Your pool becomes a private paradise, where you only travel as far as your backyard to enjoy it.
Outdoor Fireplaces
When it comes to outdoor fireplaces, the only limits are those of the imagination. Backyard fireplaces add warmth and a cozy ambience to your outdoor experience and can extend your entertaining hours into the night. You can sit on your comfortable chairs by your pool and watch the fire going in your outdoor fireplace.
The fireplace should match your backyard in theme and style. This is an addition to your patio or deck that guarantees the success of every party you throw. When you and your family want quiet time, an outdoor fireplace will give you the ambiance and romance you’ve only dreamed of; and it will keep the dream alive through all seasons.
Fences – safe and attractive
Fences add both a touch of class to your pool installation and serve as an important safety measure against unwanted intruders. If you build a deck around your pool, a fence can provide additional security and keep children or animals from wandering into the pool area.
If you have stairs leading up to your pool deck, a latching or locking gate is essential equipment to keep your pool area safe and secure.
Landscaping with trees and shrubs
Many pool owners choose to landscape the area around their pool, turning it into an oasis of beautiful tranquillity with the pool as its centerpiece. There are many ways to accomplish this, among them placing potted trees and shrubs around your pool to bring an additional touch of nature to the area. Potted plants can require less maintenance than inground trees and shrubs and are easier to move, remove or replace while providing visual depth and interest to the area around the pool.
Landscaping with sand and pebbles
There are as many different ways to landscape as there are pool owners. One clever trick is to build your own beach! Fine, pale sand called “sugar sand” is perfect for this weekend project: dig out a section of yard, line it with landscape fabric and fill it with beautiful sand. Add some deck chairs, a patio table, an umbrella or anything you want. Or make a “sandbox” area close to the pool for picnic tables or patio furniture. Presto – your own beach getaway just a few steps from the pool! Or if you prefer, many quarries can deliver large quantities of smooth pebbles in a variety of shades, making a “pebble beach” for relaxation and enjoyment.
A view for safety
Whatever you decide regarding decking and landscaping, always make sure that the pool itself remains visible from the house and from all points in the yard – especially if you have young children. Your ideal pool landscape will be beautiful, relaxing and easy to monitor at all times. A clear, unobstructed view of the water is essential to ensure that you can keep an eye on the kids whenever they’re in the pool.
Featured Pools, Pool Designs and Ideas
“What was it about this project that required an unusual level of quality workmanship”
This project was all about the little details. To keep the overall look fairly simple, but still have some pop, the customer chose to utilize the pebble material from their showers. Instead of coming on mesh, they each had to be individually hand laid on both the horizontal and vertical surface, which added a lot of extra time to this build.
“Describe how this pool design integrates effectively with the home, landscape, or both”
In order to have a “flat yard” feel, in a neighborhood built in the hills, the customer built the entire backyard up by an average of 10’. That allowed the pool to extend out from the house, while still allowing for a large play area for his kids. The entire back wall of the house slides open to expose the pristine pool to the rest of the interior.
“Describe the aesthetic appeal of this entire project”
The customer was looking to recreate their recent resort experience, but on a much smaller scale. The colors and clean lines mirrored the aesthetics of their home, giving them a beautiful resort extension from the back of the house. Using the same pebble from their showers, we created a nice accent band around the perimeter of the pool, while also utilizing it around the water and fire features. The elegance is truly brought out at night when the soft glow of light casts shadows across the splitface travertine walls, and LED’s accent the outdoor kitchen.
Unusual Story:
Because the backyard was built up with compacted fill, the excavators were expecting a little reprieve from the usual solid rock conditions in that neighborhood. However, they quickly realized how well the material was compacted, because it took over a week to dig this 15’ x 30’ rectangle
