Backyard Oasis

Bryan & I have always wanted a pool & we bought our house with one in mind. We found a perfect corner lot that had plenty of space for a pool but still had green space left for kids to play. We have literally been talking about our backyard design since we moved in this house, which was 5 1/2 years ago & we finally decided to pull the trigger. We figure now that we have kids, we will use our outside space even more & opening the back yard provides for more entertaining space.

 

We started officially working on this months ago, well before summer was here. We interviewed 6 different companies that builds pool & outdoor living. We got bids & designs from each of them & we eventually chose one to work with. That in itself, took a couple of months. Then came the design work. We have always griped about our back porch because it is tiny, so we decided to build a covered patio. We are fortunate that we have a big enough yard to continue building on not just an arbor or a pergola, but a full covered patio with a shingled roof. Underneath, we are building an outdoor kitchen & a fireplace. All total, I think it's about 550 square feet. Behind that, will be the pool along with a grotto, 2 tanning ledges & a hot tub. Man, I'm getting excited just talking about it!

 

Before we left on vacation, we signed all of the paperwork & gave our deposit, but it took a couple of weeks to pull permits. Then we got down to the busy work while Sadie was gone. I mean we had a crazy couple of days - I felt like we were building a house again!

 

Greg came over last Friday to draw out the pool with spray paint. It was exciting to actually see the shape on the ground & not just on paper:

 

 

You probably can't see the blue spray paint in the pictures, but in the corner of the yard where they are measuring above, that is where the grotto will be:

 

 

We are having it built up as a focal point since that is the first thing you see when you walk out our back door. It will have a waterfall with a bench inside for sitting underneath. We are going to make this area a little deeper (5 feet) so kids can jump & play off of the rocks. We didn't want a "deep" end, but we wanted it a little deeper so the kids can play.

 

In front of the grotto to the left (if you are looking from the backdoor) will be a tanning ledge:

 

 

We are having 2 big tanning ledges built since we have small children. I have been told this is mostly where small kids like to play, so we are having bubblers added. And since we have girls, I envision they will transition into sunbathing on the tanning ledges when they get older.

 

On the other side of the pool, we will have our hot tub:

 

 

I think it will fit about 10 people. It will also have a cascading waterfall spillway into the pool. And off of hot tub, just in front will be the other tanning ledge. Both tanning ledges will have steps that lead into the pool so you can enter from either side.

 

Last weekend we spent the entire weekend shopping for outdoor equipment/appliances & outdoor furniture. We had to design the outdoor kitchen & choose which appliances we wanted. This is mostly Bryan's area, so I am trying to let him take the lead. But the furniture I was really picky about. Since our patio will be covered, we decided to invest in the nice furniture that will hopefully last for years. We picked out a dining set with a round table & 6 chairs and 3 bar stools that match to go by the bar. We also picked out living room furniture to place in front of the fireplace. We also picked out some chaise lounge chairs & a bistro table set for the pool, but we may wait & buy those next summer.

 

Since last weekend, Bryan & I have been busy shopping online. That's the way we roll - we pick it out in person so we can touch it & feel it and then we do all of our research online to see where we can get the best price.

 

Finally, we met our pool builder at his design center earlier in the week while Sadie was still gone:

 

 

We chose the color of the plaster for the pool (which determines your water color), tiles for the inside of the pool and the stone for the coping, grotto, hot tub, outdoor kitchen & fireplace. We also chose a different tile for the hot tub & pavers for the decking. Let me tell you, this was hard! We started with the color of the pool water & that was easy. I showed him a picture of our favorite beach (Grace Bay, Turks & Caicos) & told him to mimic that :) If we can't be at one of our favorite beaches all the time, we might as well pretend like we are looking at it! But picking out everything else was hard. Not really the stone, but the tile. Neither of us have ever had a pool, so the whole process has been a learning experience & designing it was too!

 

 

Somehow we survived all of the hard work, research & design and now we just have to sit back & wait while they do all of the work. They were supposed to break ground this morning, but we had a horrible storm yesterday with 5 inches of rain that delayed the excavation. The storm was so bad, Bryan & I were up most of the night because we couldn't sleep. Luckily, our house wasn't hurt, but the wind did pick up the girls swing set & tossed it a few feet:

 

 

If the weather cooperates this weekend & the sun dries everything up, they should start digging on Monday & our whole project is expected to take 10-12 weeks. If I have learned anything from our neighbors who have gone through this experience, it usually takes longer than expected, so unfortunately, I don't think it will be ready until October. I was really hoping we would have been done by Labor Day, but I can honestly say that Bryan & I took longer to do our research & plan out everything. We figured we have waited this long, instead of rushing it, we would rather take our time & do it right. So, even if we don't enjoy the pool much this year, hopefully we will enjoy the fall season outside. I already imagine us watching college football while making smores out by the fireplace. And the girls might be swimming in the hot tub this fall if the pool is too cool :)

 

Please excuse this long blog post, but I have really enjoyed documenting our family experiences on this blog. I really do feel like it is "The Dodson Diary" & I enjoy sitting down every day to work on it. Plus, I have a horrible memory, so I try to write it all down so I won't forget! I will definitely blog each week as we go through this process but I will try to include more pictures & less talking :)