Cool Pools: Inspiration for Our New Pool

I've been trying to write this post for a week now! It's as much for my potential pool builders as it is for you. We're coming down to the wire on having to submit a pool design to our homebuilder and I'm not any closer now than I was a month ago, but it's okay because I have two potential designs in my head. Between my son stealing my computer to play cool math games, work and too much fun on the weekends (I won't lie!), I've been slacking a bit on everything else. My husband just shoved a pad of paper and pencil in front of me today and said to get this pool design done. I've got to work on it before he comes up with his own design, probably a grotto pool worthy of a Hugh Hefner party and a slide coming down from the second story of the house. Yes, he's more fun than I am.

We built our current pool a little over three years ago and while it's a process, it's so worth it to get exactly what we want. There are so many decisions to take into consideration and I'm happy to make each one. I love the waterfall with the moss rocks and freeform design we currently have, but I'm looking to do something completely different in the new house.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a picture of a pool that fits the picture in my head. I have been able to find certain elements I like in different inspiration pictures. The first thing I have to consider is the style of our new home. It's a traditional brown stone and brick, but it has a bit of European influence because of the roof line.

One of the regrets I have about not getting the stucco and stone exterior is that I passed up an opportunity to incorporate the tropical look I love so much. But, when I was searching for a vacation rental recently in Alys Beach/Rosemary Beach, FL I realized a lot of their homes (and pools) have a European flair. Hmmm...I could do a little traditional, a little contemporary (because too much traditional is stifling to me), and a little bit of Old World style ala Alys Beach. That's a lot to take in when I describe it. I'll just show you in pictures.

What's not to love about this pool? I know you're probably thinking how am I going to incorporate this look into my suburban backyard. It's the rectangular shape and the Old World fountain that I want to take away from this design. I really do love it all, too. Maybe I can vacation there if I book at least 6 months in advance. If you follow my Instagram you know what I mean!

But, I also like the bowls on pedestals as a waterfall option.

And, while I like the simple rectangular shape of these pools I also love this more formal design for the hot tub and sun shelf. 

 

I can't decide if this is too fussy for my taste even though it's beautiful.

The waterfall has to come off a wall of some sort. I toyed with the idea of a cream colored stucco wall for more Old World style and a way to make a few palm trees work. It will probably get too wet for stucco and be a pain to maintain. There are stucco-like options that I'm looking into or I could just go with a cream colored smooth tile. I think I'm pretty much sold on an arched wall regardless of the finish I choose.

Traditional Pool by Spring Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers Absolutely Outdoors

This one has a brick arched wall that's pretty, but there is so much brick on the new house I will go for a different material.

 

 

Another look I like is large planters partly built into the pool.  It softens the edges of the pool and keeps it from looking so flat.

 

Eclectic Pool by Houston Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers Marquise Pools

 

Tropical Landscape by Newport Beach Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers Mark Scott Associates | Landscape Architecture

 

Isn't this pool just amazing?

 

And, the last item on my wish list is a beach entry.

 

Mediterranean Pool by Spring Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers Absolutely Outdoors

 

The mosaic tile on the edge of the beach entry is just amazing!

 

I'm glad I was able to find pictures of what I have been dreaming up in my head even if it's a combination of many pictures. Once I get a drawing back with the winning design I will definitely share it with you!

 

 



New Home Selections

The most exciting part of the entire building process is choosing the finishes. I had a very good idea of what I wanted before I stepped in the design center after looking at other homes the builder had for sale and other communities models. I might have been a bit of a home stalker, but it completely paid off in the end.

 

Let's start in the kitchen! The kitchen is going to have these white cabinets with the glass uppers and that hood. I love, love, love that hood! Mine will have a little different trim on the bottom. The lower cabinets will be white, but the island will be gray.

 

 

I know we've all seen white kitchens with gray islands, but let's take a look at one for kicks.

Here is a sample of the gray island cabinetry. I love that mosaic backsplash sample in the picture, but it was insanely expensive so we decided against it once we got the pricing back. The alternative we chose is a white subway tile with a beveled edge and gray grout. It was still an upgrade, but a quarter of the price of the mosaic tile. The countertop will be carrera marble. I'm a nervous wreck that I'm going to destroy it, but after seeing it in another house I just had to have it. I was absolutely giddy when I first laid eyes on it and by my husband's expression I probably looked a little crazy. I should have told him it would be like his reaction to top of the line golf clubs. He would have understood!

 



The next big decision was the master bathroom. I was so excited to find a porcelain tile that looks exactly like the marble countertop sample. The tile will be a rectangular 12x24 size instead of the square in the picture. It will be on the floor and the walls of the shower. The hard part was choosing a grout color. I immediately thought I would want white, but it looks too white against the tile. I ended up choosing gray grout. I never imagined grout colors would be my Achilles heel in this entire process. I am not thrilled about the mosaic tile below for the tub surround, but it's such a small area that I didn't want to spend a fortune on more marble. You would think because it's such a small area it wouldn't be inexpensive. Nope!

Here is a close up of the gray and white grout samples next to the tile. The white looks fine in the picture, but it really is much brighter in person compared to the tile.

Pretty inspiration picture

I'm considering painting the walls a dark gray if we have enough natural light to offset all the white.

The cabinets will be white and the countertops are going to be marble. The guest bathroom and powder room are also going to have the finishes as the master bathroom. Yes, more marble!

On to the boys bathrooms. There will be no marble in here! All three boys will have their own bathroom and I decided to go with the same finishes in each one. It's easy and there will be no fights over who has the best bathroom.

The cabinets will be white to offset the slate gray floor and dark gray granite counters. I chose an inexpensive standard tile for the shower since the shower curtain will cover it anyway. I can make each bathroom a bit different with the wall color and accessories to go with their rooms.

Similar bathroom

These are my favorite lights for above their vanities, but I found so many I like that I might choose a different one for each of their bathrooms.

I made a last minute switch at my second visit to the design center when it came to the flooring. I had initially chosen an engineered floor after finding out the wood tile I love so much was way out of our price range. I had mentioned I would love stained on site floors to the design consultant and she mentioned the narrower boards were about the same price as the engineered floor. Here are the two floors side by side.

I love the way the real wood floor on the right looks with the gray kitchen island cabinet. I was told the narrower boards would be better with the humidity in our area. The wider boards have a tendency to buckle so I'm feeling a bit better about choosing the 2 1/4".

There are so many other little details we chose that I love as much as the big decisions. The front doors, the fireplace and the beams are details I can't wait to see be installed. We have a while before that happens. It's all sawdust, dirt and rusty nails right now. It's still exciting and it finally looks like a house now. I can't wait to show you the building progress next!

 

 

 

 



The New House: Exterior and First Floor

I showed you a few pictures of the model home we're building last week. Here are the rest of the pictures and all of the details.

The hardest part of the entire process was choosing an exterior. The house we chose has four different exterior options and we considered three of them. The model has a front porch elevation and it's the one we originally decided on.

But, then we saw this stucco and stone elevation.

I have always wanted either a stucco Mediterranean or a French country home. I got a bit of both with this house. But...there's always a but. When we went to choose the stone and stucco combination I found out we could only choose certain color schemes. I had planned on a darker stucco with light stone. The only stucco colors they offered were a variation of white. As you know I love white, but I started to get nervous about maintenance of white stucco in the area we live in. So, we made a spur of the moment decision to switch back to brick. Instead of the front porch house, I decided to go with a third option. This is the house!

The stone will be the same color and the brick is a similar brown. The entryway will be arched instead of rounded so you will be able to see the front doors better. Yes, doors! We are going to have double doors! I can't tell you how excited I am about having double front doors. I'm already imagining double wreaths at Christmas and throwing both doors open on moving day.

There are a few decisions I've made that I'm not too sure about and the biggest one is not getting the stucco and stone exterior. It's way too late to change my mind now and I don't know if I really want to either. It's such a hard choice!

Now, on to the interior. I really like the layout of this house and can't say I would change much. I love the high ceilings and arched doorways, too.

I'm excited to have a good sized breakfast room to comfortably fit all five of us.

That one little transom window on the left wall drives me crazy! I was hoping to add one on each side, but I was told the porch outside makes it very expensive to move braces (or something like that).

The kitchen is going to look completely different. I was excited to find out a larger vent hood was an option. I'm also going to have cabinets all the way up to the ceiling since we added small glass front cabinets on top of the uppers.

There will be some fun wine drinking nights in front of the fire!

The master is huge compared to what we are used to in our current house. I think my furniture is going to look like it was made for a doll house.

Separate vanities aka no more whiskers in my sink.

This closet is insane! It could be a sixth bedroom. I'm going to have to shop more to fill it up.

Guest Bedroom

That's the exterior and the first floor. All three boys will be upstairs and I can't tell you how happy I am to be on a different floor now that they are getting older.  Each of them will have their own bathroom, too. I'm not so sure that's a good thing...because boys. There's also a gameroom and a media room upstairs. This house is big! The funny thing is that my husband and I are already talking about when we sell it in 10-15 years to buy a small condo in Florida. It will be great for our family in the meantime. When I get overwhelmed in this house I'll remind myself that Florida is just around the corner. It's a trade off for these wrinkles, right?!