Very nice design! How exciting!!

Day 1!!

PB on the left, helper on the right. Laying out the pool and leveling forms.

Here is the same shot from over the garage, no spa, no patio. Sorry about the shadows!

This is looking back toward the house instead of away from it. It's gonna be awesome!

The truck broke down bringing the excavation equipment out. Rescheduled for tomorrow.

Day 3:

Houston, we have a hole!

Crew trimming and getting walls plumb. PB is in the Bobcat spreading dirt.

Tony in the excavator doing his thing.

A shot from the tanning ledge toward the deep end.

My favorite shot, I love the way it looks from this window!

Well, I guess I've been slacking on posting for some reason. Anyway, steel was done on Wed.

We passed inspection on Thursday and today the gunite crew is out.

I'll put up some more when they are done.

They're done! I think it looks great!! Let me know what you guys think. Sorry no cool waterfall or grotto to look at!

This is day 12 since the build started. Today was waterline tile.

Things are looking good!

Looking good! I like the tile.

Day 14: Plumbing

There are 3 suction outlets: main drain, 2 skimmers, all 2". Technically 3 return inlets: a 2" loop that encircles the pool with 5 returns, 1.5" each, a 2" pipe to the bubblers on the tanning ledge, and a 1.5" pipe for the Polaris cleaner.

The return is the line the others have to go up and over. Hmmm.

There is a Poolmiser autofill as well.

Day 17 (is today, the last day they worked was Thursday, no work on pool Friday or today):

Thursday we passed electrical conduit inspection and they filled in the trenches and started compacting soil under where the deck will be.

There will be 2 atrium drains around goldfish pond and the 2 tall green pipes are for the channel drain in the deck.

The PB and I messed around with the boulders and we like where we are. It will look great once the flagstone, deck, and landscaping is done.

I put the umbrella in one of the sleeves just to see what it looked like. The sleeves are 2" and umbrella pole is only 1.5". I think I have heard a 1.5" PVC pipe will go over umbrella pole and fit down in sleeve to take up slop, I will try this later.

Masons should be here Monday to set the boulders and lay flagstone. Can't wait to see that! But it is starting to look like a pool.

Today is day 23 since the build started. We have deck formed, supposed to pour tomorrow, yea!!

We also have the 2.5" "hazelwood" flagstone coping on the back side of the pool in.

Day 26:

They poured the deck this am. It is very dark now but should lighten considerably. The final color should be very light.

Tentatively scheduled to get plaster a week from today. There's still a few things to do, hope they make it! I'm already running out of warm weather!

It is actually day 30 of the build. That seems like a milestone for some reason.

Quite a few people here today. The two tile guys were here putting 2" spotters on the steps and swim out:

They also bullnosed the tanning ledge. This was suggested by the PB. It was very expensive as they had to cut 3x12 bullnose tile down into 2" pieces to match the regular (non-bullnosed tile) that they used on the face of the ledge. I went ahead and paid for it not without some hesitation but in the end I just thought it would look cool!

The electricians were also here. They have everything on line!

Ready for plaster which is scheduled for Monday. Pretty good chance of rain tomorrow and that would push us back a day.

Oh, the PB's crew was here too. They sealed the flagstone after acid washing them yesterday. They used and impregnating salt resistant sealer. Supposed to look like it hasn't been sealed when it dries, but now it is a little yellow and darker. Hopefully it will cure out some more.

Sorry I haven't been updating. They plastered the pool this last Tuesday:

SORRY! Not that kind of plastered, this kind:

We have since filled with water and had our first swim today, our 3rd day with water in the pool.

We love it!! The plaster is very smooth and we think the water color is amazing with the french gray. The kids are really enjoying it!

Very nice pool. We just got ours as well. Question, do you have and extension on your pool umbrella shown on the last picture? I have been trying to find a pool extension for our pool that will allow us to stand under it.

Thanks

Congratulations on the beautiful pool. Very nice design, and the I like your finish selections as well.

Would you mind answering some questions, please?
1) Deck finish is rock salt? I was unsure based on your description and wanted to confirm.
2) what are you going at ground level in the area outside of the flagstone coping... the "top" of the design drawing? Is it planned for grass, or some other material in mind?

Regards,

Chris

No extension. It is from Pottery Barn and I believe 96" tall. I did find some pricey stainless steel ones that were 102" tall on umbrellas and cushions dot com. I did have to stick the umbrella into a 1.5" PVC pipe to make it fit snug in the 2" sleeves that are in the pool.

Chris,
It is a rock salt finish, it also is an integrally colored concrete mix, Butterfield U-20 "smoke".

There is some sod at the "top" already but there is a long planting bed that goes the entire length of the pool. I buried some extra boulders next to the boulders on the pool beam and will do planting in the spring.

I want to also put a pergola next to the house as in the original drawing at the beginning of the thread.

bpricedo, thank you for the response. I like the way the planting bed cuts down on the decking required, but I wonder if you are at all concnered about access to the pool from that side for maintenance, etc?

Also, do you know the approximate distance from the pool to the equipment.

Thanks so much for your posting and willingness to share. We are about to get started on our project, and seeing what you've done has provided some great alternative ideas.

Regards,

Chris

Thanks for posting the finale! Have been watching with interest, as we are in OKC and hope to someday refinish our 37 year old pool. French gray is our choice, too! Love the look of your water. We have some flagstone as our pool coping in some places, but want to remove it for standardization so we can get a safety cover (no kids yet but on the horizon). What are you doing regarding winterizing/covering/kid safety? We winterized last year because we didn't move in until late December and didn't know what we are doing, but we think we will keep it open this winter. For the cost of closing and opening, we could pay for the chems/electric to keep it going and not have to look at a swamp out the back windows. However, skimming in the cold wind is no picnic, either. And emptying skimmer? Whew! I lost feeling in my arm! Attached the angel handles to the basket this summer, so don't have to submerge anymore, so one problem solved.

Chris,
The top side where there isnt any deck was where all of the dirt from excavation went. What the PB had originally discussed was making the dirt slope away quickly from the edge of the pool, giving it an infinity edge look. However they made it flat up there instead of sloped. So I went with the planting bed along the pool. The flagstone coping there is 18" wide so it is plenty comfortable to stand on to brush and vacuum the pool, we made it extra wide just for that reason.
The closest edge of the pool to equipment is about 30 feet.

Mia,
We are going to try keeping it open all winter. Our last pool we winterized and put a cover on and that is its own set of pains. We will see how it goes.

I took a couple of pictures from the other end that show things a little better maybe:

Looks great! Can you tell me a little more about the French Gray plaster, please. Is it light gray or dark gray? Is it a solid color or mottled/marble-y? Most importantly, what color does the water look? We want to refinish our 27 year old pool which is white. I feel like I'd like to do something a little different, but really I just want the water to look very blue and fresh.

The picture below the plaster company's hat shows the pool with plaster but without water so you can see the color. The french gray is a "medium" gray, not too dark. The color is not even, I do think it looks marble-y more than mottled. I think it is absolutely beautiful to see the color variation through the water. The water color shown in the last couple of pictures is very indicative of the water color in person. It is very blue without any green or turquoise hues.