where are you located? (the more months the pool is closed, the less you'd want it as the first thing you see when you look out. closed for the season pools arent too pretty no matter how much you pay for your cover.)

thank you, we're in the North East so about 4-5 months of pool/year depending on the winter. We have a lot of friends & neighbors who have pools and when they're landscaped nicely, they're fine all year (cover and all) and we've had pools in our previous homes, so it's definitely something we're going to add to this home.

oh of course you'll add it. its a matter of where.

i'm sitting here in RI looking out at my pool right now. but from labor day to memorial day i would Really Rather look out at a patio, with the pool to one side or the other and not the focal point of the back yard. (it's a vacation home, and i didnt build it.).

you should draw a bird's eye view of your property, including which way is north.

so you think it would be ok to do it off to the side slightly where the current door into the basement already is, then? I'm hoping that this would be an option that would work out since it will save us a few thousand to NOT have to put another door in, but we want to do it right and not skimp. We are in PA so we will definitely do a heater for the pool, but you make a great point about it not being the focal point of the yard, which I hadn't really thought about because I feel like so many pools are the focal point!

Since pools are looked at more often that used, it's important to design the pool to look more like a water feature with fun things like sheer decent, raised hot tub with water spillway, boulder waterfall, deck jets, or other interesting features. That way, when it's too cool to swim, you'll have a nice focal point to sit around. You have a large property with endless possibilities. Would be worth your time and money to hire a local landscape architect, at least for a few hours, to talk you through the options on your site.

thank you so much for the suggestion Susan! We had a landscape architect out a few years back (before we cleared and graded most of the back yard) who told us that we like the look of the golden rod and brush and he wouldn't do anything to it (?!?!) We were shocked to we haven't used another since and we live in a very rural area so we don't have as many resources. I will look into this again, though, maybe there's another landscape architecture company that we can use now. Thanks again!

Good luck! You may be able to find someone on the Houzz "FindPros" tab. I know of a company Revolutionary Gardens (Vermont based) that does online design/consulting. They're on Houzz - take a look!

oh great! I'll take a look today, thank you again for your suggestions Susan! Happy Memorial Day :)