Pool Progress: The Final Product

Guess I kinda left everyone hanging after my last pool progress update….we’ve been too busy enjoying it!  Here are some a lot of photos of the final touches.

I decided to go with a more neutral fabric for the patio set, rather than the bright red/yellow/blue stripe I previously picked up.  My mom made the cushion covers and I love the way they look with the furniture and pool! Oh, and we have GRASS!

We got one of the extra-large cantilever umbrellas from Wal-Mart, here it is all wrapped up:

Mom also made some coordinating pillows for the Adirondack chairs on the other side of the patio.  That little table is a tile with a vinyl fleur de lis and our last name that my friend made with her Cricut.

The rock garden with growing (hopefully!) plants and solar lights:

One of my favorite spots is over in the rock garden where we placed this gorgeous pot from a local nursery and ceramic ball from Hobby Lobby. 

On the opposite side is another palm, some hanging vinca, a lava rock planter and iron tiki torch.

The palm tree/leaf theme just happened to come about, first with the fabric, then with these cute hooks and thermometer I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby:

And then this cute solar lamp my mom found at the grocery store!

Here are some night-time pics:

That’s all, folks! Time to jump back in the pool!

Pool Progress: Days 24-28

What an exhausting weekend! We got some hard work done in the back yard but still can’t get in the pool since the plaster is curing in an acid bath.  Hopefully it will be neutralized tomorrow and then all the pool chemicals will be added and we will be swimming by mid-week!  Here are some photos of the progress:

Full of water!

Pump is on and the water is circulating.  You can see the plaster is  darker than when it was first filled.

My mom helped with landscaping the backside of the pool.  We planted some fan palms and irises.  We still have to get the landscape fabric down and a layer of creek rock on top.

Hubby and Dad put up a fence to hide the equipment and A/C.

I decided on this patio set from World Market.  Thanks, Mom, for generously gifting it to us! I’m sure they will get almost as much use out of it as we will! I snagged the big canopy umbrella from Big Lots and the lounge chairs from Academy.

This stripe fabric on the cushion is actually an outdoor table cloth I found at Kohl’s.  I’m trying to decide if I want to make slip covers for the cushions with it or leave them white for now and then maybe cover them in a more neutral fabric this fall. Any opinions??

Up next, the flagstone walkway leading to the pool.  Hubby and I got about 3/4 of the way through and hope to have it finished in the next couple of days.

Pool Progress: Day 19

We have a patio!

It looks great and I can’t wait for it to be stained, it is really bright white right now! That probably won’t happen for several weeks, though.  Looks like there will be plenty of room for lounge chairs and a conversational set.  Now I’m just agonizing over what kind of patio furniture to get, any suggestions?!

Plaster is next and then it will be filled with water!

Pool Progress: Day 17

Yesterday the forms and re-bar for the patio (officially called decking) were installed.  Now we get to see how much patio space we will have.

We aren’t carrying the decking around the whole perimeter of the pool, we’re going to landscape the backside eventually.

Looks like there will be plenty of space for a couple lounge chairs and a table set. 

The concrete gets poured tomorrow.  We are just doing a light broom finish for now, and it will eventually be stained, hopefully sooner than later!  After the deck gets poured, the plaster will be put on early next week, then it’s just curing and clean-up.  We should be swimming in less than two weeks!

Day One

Well, we have an exciting “home improvement” project starting this week…..we are getting a POOL!

The planning and designing has kept me busy the past few weeks, hence the sporadic blog posts.  So now I’ll be taking you along on our journey to summer fun, if for nothing else than to document it for ourselves. 

Today the designer drew out the shape with spray paint on the grass and a crew came and dug out the perimeter and formed it up with boards.  Of course I don’t have a true before photo, but you can use your imagination.  Here’s how we stand at the end of the day:

side view

view from back of yard

We are also doing some work on our patio area.  We took up the flagstone extension that the previous owner put in and are planning on laying sod and using the flagstone to make a pathway to the pool.  Here’s the work in progress:

The pathway will go where the red arrows are.  I’m going to re-do/add flower beds along there as well.

I will try to post daily or when there are major changes.  The ground will be dug up tomorrow so I’m sure it will be a messy day.  I just have to take deep breaths and tell myself all the mess will be worth it in the end!