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Life On Virginia Street

Life On Virginia Street

DIY . Home Decor . Travel . Style . Life

Our Pool: Thoughts After the First Year

Landscaping and Outdoor Spaces

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This is my review of our backyard pool after the first year of use!  Lots of landscaping pictures and before and after pictures!

It’s hard to believe, but tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the day I revealed the pool and backyard makeover to you! I’ve received questions and requests for updated photos over the past few months, and while I’ve teased you on Instagram and my Weekend Recaps, I thought I’d do a proper post today with everything all together.

You may recall that as we left it last year, I wrote a post with everything you need to know about building a pool (the post also includes sources, tips and a budget breakdown). Our goal this year was to add in some additional, smaller landscaping (we mostly only did trees last year) and get some bold color! We wanted the pool functional last year, with most of the large landscaping completed (trees). This year, we then planned to add more of the decorative shrubs and plants. The main reason for this was budget constraints and some of the additional costs that came up last year (like that second retaining wall) that weren’t initially planned.

So first, I’ll give you an updated tour of the outdoor space. Then I’ll dig into some of our tips and what we wish we would have done differently!

It’s hard to believe that this was our backyard last March before they started digging!

Our backyard before we put in our gorgeous pool.

And here is that same gorgeous view as of last week.

Our backyard today, with an inground pool, a deck with chairs and stepping stones in the grass.

Pretty dramatic difference, huh?! Here’s a bit wider view (standing under our covered patio) that shows the pool equipment as well.

The fence around the pool and large trees.

The following photo is what the same view looked like one year ago. You can see just how much backyard landscaping was added over the course of the past year! It’s fun to see how much the trees have grown and how much healthier the sod looks now.  Even if our mower doesn’t trim the checkerboard pavers correctly. 😉

Here's our beautiful backyard pool before we finished the landscaping.

You can see that, since last year, we added a bunch of flowering shrubs and the three oak trees to the second tier of the wall. We also had those limestone ledges added earlier this spring when the hill was still unwalkable.

This next ‘before’ photos is from fall of 2015.

 You can see our back fence line and the tall trees in the far edge of our lawn.

And here’s that same view today. To put it in perspective, each wall is four feet tall. You can see some of our trees (especially the evergreens) have really started to take off already!

This is the view today, complete with our amazing pool, cement pavers and poolside chairs and umbrellas.

A view from the other side of the yard.

Gorgeous oasis shaped vinyl pool. Striped umbrellas, striped outdoor curtains, lounge chairs, waterfall, stone veneer, oleander and pine trees.

Here's a view of our beautiful pool. You can see the waterfall on the right and the pool chairs and umbrellas on the far side of the pool! Honest backyard pool review! We love our pool!

Here you can see a bit more of the landscaping we added to the second tier wall. If it looks like the sun was starting to set, it was. I have the hardest time getting good photos of the pool area during the day. The sun is just so harsh! The drawback to taking them so late is that you get that warm glow from the sunsetting. But, I think you get the point 😉

Here is the pool from above. If I'm being totally honest, there are only one or two things I'd change about our amazing backyard pool!

Gorgeous oasis shaped vinyl pool. Striped umbrellas, striped outdoor curtains, lounge chairs, navy blue pillows, striped pillows and planters filled with annuals.

 The blue and white stripes the pillows give off the perfect beach vibe!

Lounge Chairs (also here) | Striped Pillows (also here) | Navy Blue Pillows | Umbrellas | Planters

Oleander, magenta petunias, potato vine and oleander in a blue resin pot.

We are so happy we decided to add the waterfall. The sound is so peaceful and just ups the relaxation factor so much!  Feels almost like a spa pool!

Here's a great shot of our waterfall feature that sits on the far side of our backyard pool. It looks great with our landscaping and I love the waterfall sound!

Here's an above shot of our pool furniture. Gorgeous oasis shaped vinyl pool. Striped umbrellas, striped outdoor curtains, checkerboard pathway, concrete travertine pavers, lounge chairs, navy blue pillows, striped pillows and planters filled with annuals.

Conversation Set | Dining Set | Outdoor Curtains | Striped Towels | Lounge Chairs (also here) | Striped Pillows (also here) | Navy Blue Pillows (square) | Navy Blue Pillows (lumbar) Umbrellas | Planters | Wicker Garbage Can

Selections we couldn’t be happier with

  • Our paver selection. After experience multiple days over the past year with temps in the low 100’s, it’s amazing just how cool our concrete “travertine” pavers stay. For those interested we used the Antique Travertine in Ivory from Rochester Concrete Products. The crazy part is that the concrete coping around our pool gets crazy hot (as concrete tends to do), but the pavers always stay fairly cool! We also couldn’t be happier with the look of them.
  • Our In Ground Cleaning System. Paramount’s Vanquish in-floor self-cleaning system (they have really helpful info on their site if you’re curious how this system works) is a total game changer. We basically wake up to a clean pool every morning. Occasionally we’ll have to brush or scoop leaves or get fine dirt off the floor but not having a vacuum is amazing! No system is perfect, but on the whole, we’ve been really happy with this choice (particularly since we don’t cover the pool in the summer). On average we spend 15 minutes or less on it per day (emptying skimmer baskets, testing water when necessary, etc.).
  • The retaining walls. The original plan was to have one retaining wall. Justin, our landscaper recommended two once he checked out the grade. And if you ask Kurtis now, we needed three 😉 But, we’re glad we reallocated funds to make that second wall or the hill behind it would have overtaken the entire look and been impossible to mow. We’re also really happy with the stone veneer we chose to cover it!
  • The waterfall. As I mentioned above, the waterfall makes it a little spa-like sanctuary in our own backyard! Kurtis and our landscaper Justin mostly built this on their own, but we used these EasyPro Vianti Falls Spillway (x3) along with EasyPro LED multi-color light strips.
  • Additional water line and power by the pool equipment. Kurtis asked if we could have an additional water line and power outlets by the pool equipment. Total genius. This allows for us to have a hose out where we need it (he loves it for cleaning the filters) along with power for the waterfall and should we need it for landscaping lights or Christmas decor. So much easier to add it in the construction phase!
  • The drainage. You guys get all the credit for this one. Honestly. We had no idea drainage could be such an issue with pool deck and thanks to all of your feedback, we added extra drainage. We’ve had torrential downpours that have flooded our basement, side yard, etc. but we’ve never had an issue with the pool deck. Extra drainage can’t be underestimated!
  • Pool furniture and umbrellas. We struck the jackpot on my selections from Hayneedle. Our furniture is super comfortable and we’ve gotten a lot of use out of everything. It looks as though several of the items we have from Hayneedle are sold out currently, so I’ve linked to the exact items on Wayfair. The loungers are money! So comfy and so well-built – but they are Serta so we didn’t expect much less!
  • Our liner choice. I chose the Tara Liners Cheyenne (with no border) after crazy amounts of deliberation. But, in the end, we couldn’t be happier with the choice! I feel like leaving the border off helps to make the “tiles” look life-like and much more high-end than a border would have looked.
  • Garage refrigerator. This is a win for Kurtis and a “meh” for me. We moved our basement refrigerator (which is actually the one that came free with the house) to the garage. It has served as our pool drink zone, in an effort to limit foot traffic inside during parties. Wet, salty feet and dark hardwoods don’t mix well 😉 I think we need to figure out a solution for phase 3 (see below) to get this out of the garage, because it really isn’t all that convenient walking around the house. First world problems here, but I feel like there could be an easier alternative.

Things we would have done differently

  • Sealed our pavers sooner. We have yet to seal the pavers due to some scheduling conflicts this spring. We hope to get it done this fall, but there have been a few times we had to scrub off bird poop (why do they eat so many berries?!) or other minor stains that wouldn’t come off in the rain. The stains always came out, but it was work to get them off.
  • Figured out a better storage solution. Pool floats get out of control. And if you don’t have a pre-planned place to store them, it can get ugly in a hurry. We have a storage box, but it doesn’t hold the popular crazy huge pool floats that everyone currently has, and we wish we had thought through this one a little better and built a closet somewhere in the area.
  • Add more cleaning heads in the pool. Kurtis feels like there are a few areas the swing jets are missing, so he wishes he would have asked for a few extra jets to be included at construction. Much easier then than now! At this point, we’ll leave it as it but it’s good advice for those potentially looking at this system.
  • Would have looked into an automatic fill and drain. This sounds crazy but we have to either drain or fill our pool every few days. This is rather trivial, but when we’re out of town, we do worry about the pool overfilling (and it is really bad if you get water behind the liner). So Kurtis said he’d love to have an auto-fill/drain sensor – if that’s even a thing – for peace of mind when we’re traveling!

Closing thoughts and observations on owning a pool

We both agree that building a backyard pool was one of the best decisions we ever made. But we also both agree that saving for years to be able pay for each phase was even better (guilt-free relaxation)! Not only do we get a ton of enjoyment out of the space, but so do our family, friends, and neighbors. We’ve become so much more social with our neighbors and there isn’t as much stress having friends over. There’s something about a pool day that is so much less pressure than, say, a formal party. We also can’t believe just how relaxing going in the pool frequently can be!

In regards to our choice for saltwater. At this point, we’re still undecided. The pool has been rather maintenance-free but we’ve had a few issues with our salt cell. We’ve also been told (even by our pool company) that it can be hard on your concrete. Since our coping and pavers are all concrete products, it could be an issue long-term. But, at this point, we’re pretty indifferent to the choice. Cost-wise, it was less than $1,000 to make salt water so at this point we don’t feel strongly one way or the other.

This fall, we plan to add a handful of small evergreen trees in some of the non-essential (for privacy) areas. This will include the limestone outcropping and a handful up along the wood fence line in between the big ash trees. Then we should be close to being done!

Now that phase one and two are complete, we plan to start talking about phase three. I mentioned this briefly last year, but the next phase will include expanding our covered patio to build in a grill and make the space much more functional and usable. Kurtis would love to have a TV outside and the grill and dining set have become a nuisance for traffic at this point, since the area really isn’t that large. In our dreams, we’d actually have a terrace above the covered patio. This would be in lieu of that little roof you see right now and would be accessible off of our master bedroom. That idea may be nixed once we get a bid 😉 We’d also love to find a way to add a little storage closet when we expand the patio. Just enough space to store pool floats and cushions when needed.

Next week, I’ll plan to share a few more updates on the pretty perennials I planted earlier in the spring. I’ll also be hosting a fun giveaway for you!

The shrubs around the oval pool in the backyard.

I hope you enjoyed this updated tour and information. Feel free to leave a comment with any additional information you’d like me to cover!

Gorgeous backyard pool renovation. Loving the concrete travertine pavers, checkerboard pathway, navy blue and white striped pillows, neutral decor and beige and white striped umbrellas. Great tips and recommendations on owning a pool.

If you would like to follow along on more of my home decor, DIY, lifestyle, travel and other posts, I’d love to have you follow me on any of the following:

Pinterest / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / Google+

disclosure: some affiliate links used

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July 18, 2017 · 11 Comments

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Comments

  1. karen says

    July 18, 2017 at 8:42 am

    What a great post. Trying to convince the husband that we need a poo and have pinned some of your images. . We have the perfect yard for it & I think it’s time! 🙂

    Reply
  2. karen says

    July 18, 2017 at 8:42 am

    pool that is! 🙂

    Reply
  3. RACHAEL says

    July 18, 2017 at 8:46 am

    It’s BEAUTIFUL! we purchased a home on almost an acre just about a year ago but live in the Portland area where we probably have three months max of the year we would use it. Really trying to if it’s worth the cost and if we would regret taking up that much space in our yard. (I have 3 teenage football players that use the entire yard We have a large but somewhat ghetto looking above ground ok that the kids play in every single day so an inground beautiful pool is super tempting . do you miss that grassy space in your yard during the months that you don’t use the pool? Also I know you’ve done a lot of landscaping in addition to the pool itself but do you have a ballpark of what you spent on the pool and paver area?

    Reply
  4. Wanda Molina Castillo says

    July 18, 2017 at 8:55 am

    It looks beautiful! Planning to have a pool in next year God willing love your ideas thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  5. Pamela Branham says

    July 18, 2017 at 9:01 am

    Can’t believe the transformation. Your pool area is so nice. Can’t wait to see the next phase.

    Reply
  6. Debbie says

    July 25, 2017 at 4:05 pm

    Your 1 year experience information is so helpful! I followed this project when you started blogging it. We started wanting a pool because of your posts. I’m glad you shared your best decisions, decisions you would change, and future projects relating to the pool. I first thought that salt water instead of chlorine would be better because you guys obviously decided on that route. Now that you share you don’t see any difference so far, I’m now able to be more flexible on it. I’ve also been wondering how to handle foot traffic for guests who would use the bathroom in the house. What do you guys do? Are you planning on building a separate bathroom in the pool area in addition to the pool toys closet? I’d be interested on how you handle it and what your future plans are on that.

    Our summer has been in the 90’s to even some days in the 100’s temps. My hubs keeps saying if we had a pool he’d be there right now. :+-) We hope we can tackle a project like this next year, and the budget isn’t astronomically ridiculous.

    Reply
  7. Angie Welsh says

    March 23, 2020 at 8:09 pm

    What pavers and border did you use? We are also in Omaha and debating doing pavers vs tinted concrete.

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      April 29, 2020 at 12:48 pm

      So sorry for the delay! I just saw your comment. The pavers are linked directly in the post under the Selections section. They are the Antique Travertine in Ivory from Rochester Concrete Products. The border is just tinted concrete. I hope that helps!

      Reply
  8. Energy efficient spas says

    May 19, 2020 at 5:47 am

    These are some great our pool: thoughts after the first year that you have discussed here. I really loved it and thank you very much for sharing this with us. You have a great visualization and you have really presented this content in a really good manner.

    Reply
  9. Sharon Olszak says

    March 22, 2021 at 4:20 am

    We put a 20×40 pool in 30 years ago. It was one of our best investments. It took probably 4 years to complete everything. The one thing, that’s mentioned is people coming into the house. We ended up building a pool house. Another great ideal. It has 3 stalls; 2 are designed as changing rooms the 3rd is a toilet stall. Went on by installing cabinets, a refrigerator someone was giving away and finally a sink. Oh and a Microwave. It was well worth the time and money. We are currently moving, since we’re downsizing the pool was a no go. Well that’s changed. My husband is so looking forward to having a new pool installed with the new technology, made me realize that after all the complaints since my husband and family did all the work has decided that we will have pool. Experience will be the key and quite useful. Don’t hesitate if you’re able financially afford the installation, the course of time will be so worth it. It was great to see the pictures of your design and the finished landscaping.

    Reply
  10. Jeanie Manser says

    May 16, 2023 at 4:43 pm

    Thank you for sharing this! I love seeing the results of it all. We’ve been talking about getting a pool in our backyard for a while so it’s nice to see how great they can turn out if done correctly. We’re currently finishing up some indoor renovations with a dumpster rental and everything, so we’re still some time off from actually installing a pool, but I’m excited for when we’re finally able to! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

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