Pool in Parkland with Custom Wet Edge Spa, Bar Area, Designed by Kevin Van Kirk Photographed by Lawrence Mansell

www.jacobelliott.com

Sometimes, the weather is just too nice to not bring a little of the outside in! With these doors, you can have the best of both worlds.

My client for this project was a builder/ developer. He had purchased a flat two acre parcel with vineyards that was within easy walking distance of downtown St. Helena. He planned to “build for sale” a three bedroom home with a separate one bedroom guest house, a pool and a pool house. He wanted a modern type farmhouse design that opened up to the site and to the views of the hills beyond and to keep as much of the vineyards as possible. The house was designed with a central Great Room consisting of a kitchen area, a dining area, and a living area all under one roof with a central linear cupola to bring natural light into the middle of the room. One approaches the entrance to the home through a small garden with water features on both sides of a path that leads to a covered entry porch and the front door. The entry hall runs the length of the Great Room and serves as both a link to the bedroom wings, the garage, the laundry room and a small study. The entry hall also serves as an art gallery for the future owner. An interstitial space between the entry hall and the Great Room contains a pantry, a wine room, an entry closet, an electrical room and a powder room. A large deep porch on the pool/garden side of the house extends most of the length of the Great Room with a small breakfast Room at one end that opens both to the kitchen and to this porch. The Great Room and porch open up to a swimming pool that is on on axis with the front door. The main house has two wings. One wing contains the master bedroom suite with a walk in closet and a bathroom with soaking tub in a bay window and separate toilet room and shower. The other wing at the opposite end of the househas two children’s bedrooms each with their own bathroom a small play room serving both bedrooms. A rear hallway serves the children’s wing, a Laundry Room and a Study, the garage and a stair to an Au Pair unit above the garage. A separate small one bedroom guest house has a small living room, a kitchen, a toilet room to serve the pool and a small covered porch. The bedroom is ensuite with a full bath. This guest house faces the side of the pool and serves to provide privacy and block views ofthe neighbors to the east. A Pool house at the far end of the pool on the main axis of the house has a covered sitting area with a pizza oven, a bar area and a small bathroom. Vineyards were saved on all sides of the house to help provide a private enclave within the vines. The exterior of the house has simple gable roofs over the major rooms of the house with sloping ceilings and large wooden trusses in the Great Room and plaster sloping ceilings in the bedrooms. The exterior siding through out is painted board and batten siding similar to farmhouses of other older homes in the area. Clyde Construction: General Contractor Photographed by: Paul Rollins

The backyard for this prestigious Toronto home was sloping at the rear, so retaining walls were built to create a level area for the pool and deck. The simple elegant design features full-width entry steps, and at the deep end, an elevated Brazilian Ipe hardwood deck with lounge area. The pool's gray Armorcoat interior is framed by the Indiana limestone coping and deck. An adjoining cabana features a washroom and change room, while the pool equipment is discreetly hidden behind the shrubs at the back. (16 x 36, rectangular)

Landshapes offers the exclusive line of San Juan fiberglass pools and spas. As a San Juan regional dealer, we can provide our customers with the highest quality fiberglass pools and spas available on the market. These pools are so strong that you can actually freeze them and turn them into ice skating rinks. Most pool installations are completed in under a week. We can also design your pool equipment so that you have a maintenance free pool. By adding a salt water chlorinator, a UV light, and an Intelchem monitoring system you will never have to add chlorine or chemicals to keep your pool water clean.

Pool house Photo by Michael Lee

This sleek modern white cantilevered open concept pool house is the perfect spot to hangout after a dip in the pool,

Glenn Weiss

Jonathan Edwards Media

Our client had a large property in Warrandyte with Yarra frontage and wanted a pool for relaxation and entertaining that would reflect the natural beauty of their land. There was an existing mud brick hut with character that was being used as a woodshed. The hut provided an opportunity to design the pool around, with it being transformed into a studio/pool house. A natural billabong style pool was designed to complement the existing landscape. Finished were all selected to blend with the natural colour palette. The pool is tiled with Bizassa Dehli glass mosaics that creates a natural dark green coloured water that provides a brilliant mirror to reflect the surrounding trees. Bluestone paving was hand cut and bull nosed on site to suit the unique shape. Natural rocks were used in between the coping to add dimension and enhance the rugged look of the landscape. One of the rocks included a feature that incorporates the sound of water running over the rock to add a tranquil ambience. The pool has a large shallow ledge area at one end, the perfect spot for lazing in the sun, with several ledges scattered throughout the pool creating spots to sit and relax. The mud hut and paving are connected by a timber decking that has a lounging and outdoor dining area, making this space not only look amazing, but highly functional for the client. Further outlining the level of detail undertaken the pool fence was hand crafted from natural timber and wire mesh to create a farm style fence. The pool is fully automated with an infloor cleaning system added to reduce maintenance for the client. It features and automatic salt chlorinator with chlorine and pH control to keep the water in balance. One of the main challenges that presented itself with this project was due to its location there was a high volume of protected trees. Although a unique challenge, the team knew this project would look its best with the original landscape preserved, therefore gaining construction access required town planning permits and careful research and consideration of the trees root zones determined the shape and location of the pool.

Backyard pool and cabana

This is a beautiful natural freeform pool and spa recently on HGTV Ultimate Pools, located in Dallas, TX. The big thing about this project that was unique was the trees. We were required to save all the trees. There are a lot of areas where the paving is not mortared together to allow moisture and air through to help the trees. There is a 6' elevation change that helps incorporate the boulders and waterfall into the hillside for a more natural look. There was an existing green house that was removed and the existing garage was turned it into a cabana/pool house with a covered area to relax in with furniture by the deep end of the pool. There is a big deep end for lots of activity along with a nice size shallow end for water sports, including basketball. The clients' wish list included a cave, slide, and waterfalls along with a firepit. The cave can comfortably sit 6 people and is cool in the hot Texas weather. We used pockets of plants around to soften things and break up all the rock to create a more natural look with the overall setting. A bridge was built between the pool and the spa to look like an illusion that the water is running from the pool down into the spa. 2013 APSP Region3 Bronze Award - Designed by Mike Farley. FarleyPoolDesigns.com

This modern/transitional design included a 50' infinity pool and spa, a pavilion with a large outdoor kitchen, bathroom, and fireplace, and other great features like terraced travertine patios, a 10' fire pit behind the infinity edge, cable handrails, LED lighting, landscaping, a paver driveway extension, and an in-ground trampoline!