Building a pool in your backyard is just the beginning of creating a backyard getaway. You can customize many aspects of your landscape to make enjoying your pool an immersive experience that will keep your friends and family coming back for more. Here’s how a landscape designer brings pool landscapes to life in Exeter, PA.
Start by considering how you and your family use your pool, then think about what makes up your dream backyard. A botanical garden-style backyard may suit you. Or, you may prefer a vast expanse of lawn. Or a minimalist zen retreat. Whatever the design theme is, the following ideas will help bring your vision to life.
Related: 4 Landscaping Ideas for the Perfect Poolscape in Exeter
The Right Plants
Helping a pool to feel lively and vibrant can be achieved with gorgeous native Pennsylvania greenery. Using native plants might seem to limit when it comes to diversity, but thousands of plant species have evolved locally. To show the true beauty of your landscape, instead of importing exotic plants, consider the serene beauty of natives. Native plants are far harder than exotics and require far less watering and attention (so you can spend more time playing). Whether your pool design style is minimalist or lush and tropical, native plants will add the finishing touches to your pool area.
Reduce Clutter
The best way to make your pool area feel deliberately designed is to reduce clutter. Narrow your poolside amenities down to what you will truly use (and often) so your landscape isn’t filled with objects that take up space but serve little or no purpose.
Complement Existing Design
Integrating your pool into your landscape and helping it feel like a frequently-enjoyed feature starts with paying tribute to the existing design of the home and landscape. Complement a rustic home with a pool surrounded by a natural stone or brick pool deck. Complement a contemporary home with a pool that embraces modern large-format pavers and minimalist design. Follow general color schemes but keep an open mind for the occasional juxtaposition of color and texture in accents and borders on your pool deck.
Embrace Elegance and Utility
Your pool deck is an opportunity to make this otherwise utilitarian space a functional work of art. Since safety is always a concern, use pavers with a non-slip texture (when wet). You can also use permeable pavers so that any water on the pool deck can seep into the ground instead of collecting on the surface - thus keeping your pool deck drier.
You can recreate virtually any location or feel with the right pavers: cool light grey large format pavers for a serene spa look; or earthy flagstone-inspired pavers for a tropical lagoon look. Allowing for creativity in your paver choices can wrap your pool with a gorgeous tapestry of beautiful pavers that not only serve an essential function in safety but become important landscape features.
Dazzle With Proper Lighting
Make your pool landscape come to life at night with the right lighting treatment including creative combinations of lighting strategies. The primary function of lighting is safety (a pool can quickly become dangerous at night) but lighting also offers the perfect opportunity to make your entire landscape a visual spectacle. LED fixtures are excellent in providing a calibrated level of brightness, but are also vastly more energy-efficient than traditional light bulbs and allow an astonishing array of creative techniques. A zoned design ensures that there is just the right amount of light around the pool and along walkways as well as the main patio.
Related: 4 Landscape Design Tips to Improve Pool Landscapes in the South Whitehall, PA Area
