Before & After - Conversion to a Natural Swimming Pool

Woodhouse Natural Pools - Pool Conversion Before

I am enamored with the idea of having a natural swimming pool.  I love pools but growing up swimming in lakes a natural swimming pool seems to me to be the perfect marriage of pool and lake in your own backyard. UK based Woodhouse Natural Pools seems to have taken a cue from Aussie Rick Eckersley's design guide where he says "A swimming pool should be considered objectively as one component of a garden design and should blend aesthetically into the style of the garden and the surrounding architecture." when they converted this traditional swimming pool into a natural pool.

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Top Topic - Pool Queen

Esther Williams

I have a hard time not thinking of Esther Williams when I think of pools. In her career Esther swam in some amazing studio pools designed to showcase her amazing water talents.  For Thursday, a little fun with swimming pools - some Esther William video highlights.

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Design 101 - Vacation Blues - Kate Smith on Pool Colors

As if a million stars floated down, sparkling sunlight dances across crystal clear blue water.  The sunlight mesmerizes. The blue waters beckon and invite you to step in.  Ahh, the pleasure of a seaside getaway in any one of the sought after destinations around the world.

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Designer Profile - Eckersley Garden Architecture

Eckersley Garden Architecture

Rick Eckersley of Australian based Eckersley Garden Architecture is one of my favorite landscape architects.  Rick isn't a pool designer but quite a few of his designs incorporate a pool and he is a master of blending an existing landscape with a pool surround. This is likely true because of Rick's design principle about pools and landscape design: "Swimming pools are a pivotal and expensive part of any landscape but surprisingly few are designed in a way that best suits the site or offers the client greatest amenity. Often pools are designed and sited by pool builders with the landscape seen as ancillary. A swimming pool should be considered objectively as one component of a garden design and should blend aesthetically into the style of the garden and the surrounding architecture."

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Armchair Traveler - Luxury Hotel Pools

Nobody does pool living better than luxury hotels do.  It is no wonder that so many of us return home from vacations with dreams of putting in a pool.  This week we will take a closer look at some exceptional pool living and address some of the design challenges of owning a pool.  To start the week off right I went armchair traveling to find some draw dropping pool living.

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