We started this year with a renovation project. It’s a good way to begin a year, taking something old, updating it, while also creating something more useful and aesthetically pleasing to the client.
My before shot is not very good. The pool is large. To take in the pool in one photograph makes it difficult to see any details. Yet in this photo you can see a dated red bull-nose brick coping, a white plaster pool interior (which looks blue with the sun on the chlorinated water). The deck will be replaced, and a new water-feature will be built.
The project planning started in the summer, July actually. The client, who is great to work with, would be renovating her home and the pool at the same time. She worked with an architect for the home which gave us some guidelines for tying the pool to the house (something that was not done originally). She also employed a landscape architect who happens to be a friend and frequent collaborator of mine, Johnette Taylor of Roundtree Landscaping. Johnette created a plan for the entire backyard hardscapes and I was engaged to complete the pool portion of the project.
By the time I arrived to begin my part of the work, the deck had already been removed. The pool equipment had been turned off and left standing for several weeks. The fall brings many things in Dallas, with them a “boat load” of leaves. As you can see we can only go up from here! The pool will have to be drained, cleaned and the repaired on numerous points before we can even begin with the finish work, the details that make a project great.
Just so you can see where we are headed, I’ve included a concept drawing of what the new water-feature wall should look like when complete. It shows only a portion of the pool structure but you get the idea. There will be a trio of copper scuppers which will produce a soothing and pleasing sound as well as be a great focal point!
