Pool styles in your custom home design

Including a pool in your new custom home should be thought of early in the process.

The pool needs to be part of the overall feel of the home and be incorporated as part of the initial design. 

The majority of the time the most value of the pool is the athletic value so getting it right at the start of the process is important, how far away form the home, what the pool fence will look like and where the fence starts and finishes, the level of the pool and how that relates to the site and the new home, the shape of the pool and how that fits in with how you see the family using the pool, how will the pool integrate with the rest of the landscaping just to name a few.

“And remember that a swimming pool doesn’t have to be blue. Greens, blue-blacks and even white can help you make a style statement outdoors.”

Pool Idea’s and designs for your custom house

Retro

The ‘retro’ or Mid Century Modern look is very ‘flat’ and open, which is very relevant at the moment, The colour of the pool is typically light, while a white glass mosaic tile to the waterline is always a winner. The pool shape is simple and rectangular and is great for making the most of a big block. Compliment the simple lines of the pool with a washed aggregate surround the edges of the steps into the pool for simple detail invoking the Palm Springs feel, with clean lines and minimal landscaping around the pool area.

Resort-style pools

The tropical feel where the alfresco or the freestanding cabanas often look as if they are surrounded by water or floating, while dark tiles to the waterline of the pool can enhance the ‘floating’ effect. The dark waterline can also reflect materials used in the home, the shapes are generally clean and uncomplicated, with a resort-style pool typically designed to create a strong visual from the main living areas of the home, almost like being on holidays.

Blues and blue-greens bring an inviting sparkle to a resort-style outdoor oasis which can be enhanced by decking and stone features that may be duplicated in the landscaping.

Contemporary

Lap pools are a popular addition to a Contemporary home and can be as much about exercise as they are about leisure. Their long, linear shapes highlight the bold lines of an up-to-the-minute home, and while detail is minimal, it often includes an infinity edge, a spa, a raised sun deck or a poolside conversation pit. Colours can be light and bright, or dark and moody in the style of a hidden lagoon. Coloured lighting in or around the pool will help create a night-time centrepiece. Bright neon colours will add a party vibe to your swimming pool design, while blue lights will bring a white pool to life after dark.

Formal

Elegant and sophisticated, a traditional home demands a graceful outdoor area where natural stone slabs surround a generous rectangular pool. 

This style of the pool would fit in with a formal garden including formed hedges clean lines and symmetry 

 A set of elegantly carved steps into the water. Water features are a great way to accentuate the character and a sense of tradition, with fantastically large urns, water spouts and antique-style stone features bringing a touch of grandeur to a traditional swimming pool design.

Again, it needs to fit in with the overall feel of the home and gardens and comply with the current pool regulations 

Other things to take into account when including a pool in your custom home design are:

• Where will the pool equipment be located?

• What impact that will have on your home and your neighbours.

• Pool covers where and how and what that may look like.

• Water features and how that relates to the pool, do we need separate pumps.

• Affect of the noise and splashing.

• Levels of the pool

  • A lot of the time I will use the pool wall as part of the retaining wall on the more interesting sites this gives it a seamless feel and sometimes can be used as the pool fence if the height is sufficient.

• What’s the pool going to made of? 

  • The advantages and disadvantages of concrete, fibreglass, liner pool etc.

• Pool fencing

  • Impact it has on the functionality of the pool

  • How it relates to the home.

• The location of the pool and weighing up look and functionality

  • We have all walked through display homes and the pool is lapping against the fixed plain of glass which looks absolutely stunning until someone jumps in the pool and you have to clean the window from inside the pool.