http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq156/mark1967_bucket/PoolDrawingA-Model.jpg

My personal thought would be to make the swimout shelf larger. I love ours, I wish it were bigger so we could accommodate two lounge chairs and have room to move around.

Michelle,

That was/is my biggest concern... Currently the shelf is 5' deep and 14' across. I set up two chairs and measured an area in my kitchen and it seems pretty large. I can't decide if it should be bigger, smaller or left alone. How big is yours and how much larger would you make it?

Ours is 8x9', I wish it was at least 10x11'. Also consider where the sun is; if you want to sit in a lounger facing the sun, make sure the length of the shelf where you would put your chairs is big enough.

I love our shelf, we don't have kids but we love drinking margaritas while sitting on loungers, so that would be my "do-over" if I had a chance.

Ok, here is the sketch... I'm trying to decide if I should "bulge" out the shelf further into the pool and make it deeper. This might disrupt my swimming lane though. Also, I'm making in the same depth as the second step, I think the kids will like it deeper.

I would bulge out the step on the top. Make it oval or S-shaped. Look at our beach entry -- I would do a more natural contour than just a straight line. You have plenty of room for the swim lane so I would not worry about that.

Katherine

I agree, I would suggest bulging it out into the pool more to make it more usable. Plus I think it'll look better, it looks a little odd shaped like it is now. On the depth, are you planning on putting any bubblers on the shelf? If so they won't be able to push through that water depth.

I agree the top step is a little boring but it's 4' x 12' right now and I just can bring myself to make it any bigger. My wife and I laid it out in the yard tonight and I'm going to spend the next couple of hours making some revisions... No bubblers on the shelf at it's current depth, thats another decision we need to make before they dig on Friday. I wanted to integrate the steps and the shelf together but I don't want it that shallow. Basiclly I like this design because it gives us two different shelves at different depths but I think I will try to "JaZZ" it up a little.

Thanks for the suggestions

How about this?

Ooooh, better! I like it. Plus the shelf will be fun to climb around in. I still like my S-shaped beach entry but then again, that's me. I don't have to look at your pool every day. :)

Katherine

Your design is very nice.

We also did a sunshelf and had to expand it into the pool because the original design seemed to small. Looking at yours, I would be concerned that it is a little too small but I don't know how you intend to use it. How old are your kids? What are the dimensions in the new drawing?

Another thing that I noticed is that you don't have any straight lines in your design except for the sunshelf. I would try to curve it a bit.

I have a 2 year old and he loves our sunshelf. My six year old likes it too. I haven't measured it since we filled the pool but I think our depth is 12-15". It is a nice depth. If you are going with a similar depth, I would recommend you add a small step into the sunshelf similar to what michelle_phxaz has. We added that and I am glad we did.

It is nice that you have that semi circle on the outside edge of the sunshelf. We had a few families recently and the adults spent a lot of time sitting on the edge of the sunshelf chatting with their feet in the water.

Here is our sunshelf.

Good luck with your build!

I love your sunshelf, Momof3! Are the rocks at the edge in the water movable or permanent? What size is your shelf? I love your stackstone too, that has always been a draw for me.

I really like Marc's redesign, that is a fun shape with more shelf space.

The top step is now 5'X 12' and about 8" deep. The sun shelf is 6' X 16' and about 16" deep. We have two boys 8 and 6 so I think they will have fun.

Mom of three,

What color is your pool? I really like it. We are still trying to decide but are leaning towards the plum pebbletec.

Wow. Your pool is gorgeous! Congrats on it being done. I want to know what color it is too? Is it PT or PS?

Katherine

WOW! 12' and 16' wide. I take it back, that is a nice size.

Our finish on the sunshelf is Desert Gold Pebblesheen and the rest of the pool is Ocean Blue Pebblesheen. Thanks for the compliments! We are very happy with how it came out. I am also happy we went with a different color on the sunshelf. It really suits our design and adds something extra. If it will go with the surroundings you are planning, it is worth considering.

If you are interested in seeing more pics, here is a link to our photobucket.

http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm69/perrya/Pool%20Complete/

Thanks for the photos! I've been waiting for your finished pictures ever since I read your first post during constuction. I really love your pool, probably my favorite... Everybody kept saying "BIGGER BIGGER" on the steps and shelf and I was starting to think I would not have any pool left to swim in, I guess you can't get a good size perspective from the sketch. They start digging tomorrow at 7:00AM. The pool will sit on top of a hill behind our house. I know once I start posting photos everybody is going to start calling me crazy for not building a negative edge with the view of the pond and valley below. I hope I don't regret it later!

I've read that negative edges cost about 1000 bucks per foot, that's a very pricey add-on! They do look nice though.

Personally I still do not like the straight line across the baja shelf. If you like it then by all means proceed, but I would bow it into the pool. I understand your desire not to cut into the swim lane, but I'm not suggesting extending it into the pool but rather pulling the edges back into the niche similar to the steps. On the steps, when they build those they won't terminate in sharp corners like that, they would not be able to finish the plaster. The steps will have a reverse radius to transition into the wall. That description may not make sense, here's a photo of what I'm describing:

Good luck on the dig!!

There is actually a slight inverse radius on the edge of the shelf. I agree a straight line would not fit the design. The shelf is actually quite large at 6' X 16' I can not see a reason to make it even larger. They dug the hole this morning and had to quit because of rain.

Mark,

I usually do not have this much time on my hands but I experimented a bit with your design. When I design pools I try not to bump out an area for the swimout because it looks good on paper but my opinion it interrupts the flow if the shape. I also played around with your sunshelf by making in larger and the steps smaller. I also took out corners that may be difficult to clean. Just a thought hope you get something out of this anyway.

Jason

Here is a link that might be useful: Pool Design for Mark

Jason,

Thanks for taking time to work on the design, I really appreciate your help. I like what you've done, especially the front edge of the sunshelf. I think thats exactly what I've been looking for... They dug the hole yesterday but I can still make minor changes such as these. I will post photos once I have something to look at.

Thanks again,
Mark

Please post the photos, we are all curious to see how your pool build is going.

Ok, I wanted to wait until it was a little further along but here are some photos... The red shed will be torn down or painted and converted into a tiki bar. We are no longer going to move the transformer. I found a giant polypro boulder that will fit over it so we are going to make a rock garden in that area with the paver patio around it. You might notice I added a large radius instead of a straight edge to end of the pool. I think this shape looks a lot better.

Wow, what a view. What a beautiful place you have.

Very nice setting! Interesting you mentioned the tiki bar, I'm in the process of building one right now. I've been gathering stuff for months for it including various items carved by tiki artists around the country (columns, a beam, trim, sculptures, etc.) There's a web site called TikiCentral.com that will give you tons of tiki ideas, check it out if you need any inspiration :-)

Hi Mark, I saw on a post that you were using Pleasure Pools. I had previously documented my build and I had written that they did a great job for me and some of my friends. I was wondering how your build was going? Paul is a great guy. I was surprised how easy they made the entire process. Where in MD are you located? We are in western Howard. Good Luck

We are just North of Hunt Valley. They are doing a great job. We have been looking for a PB for a couple of years and none of our friends would recommend anybody. Damon lives about 5 min away so everybody knows him around here. I got a lot of good feed back for them from this site as well...

Your pool looks great--it is larger than the one we could put in but it looks like your pool area sloped away from your house...
did you have lot of fill or problems with desing/construction because of that...
we have only started to talk about our design between ourselves and we disagree about the best way to achieve a good design...
I think we should build the pool further away from the house patio and take advantage of the deepening slope for deeper end of the pool...
my husband says the builder will probably want to cut a step or two down into the yard and level the area out before getting the depth...
curious as to your approach...

loves2read

I was orginally trying to keep from building a retaining wall to keep the patio cost down so I set the elevation even with the back of the house. During the dig I noticed the side of the pool away from the house looked really high so we lowered the elevation 2 feet. We had to build a wall anyway and bring in 50 trucks of dirt. If we would have lowered the elevation down 2 more feet it would have been much better. Your husband is right take the elevation down close to the house as much as possible so you don't have to bring in dirt... I will post some more pictures tomorrow so you can see what I mean.

thanks for the prompt reply--
that was a LOT of fill dirt you had brought in--were you worried about the quality or that the trucks would harm the pool?

our house was built on fill dirt brought into the site/development because this part (our lot and the ones on our side of the short street) originally were in part of a flood plain (because there is basically wet-season drainage creek behind the development...)

because the house had to be elevated out of the flood plain and build on fill dirt--the people who built the house paid for more expensive foundation--a piered beam foundation vs a floating slab...
I don't know that I want the pool TOO close to the house's foundation...there is a long but fairly narrow covered porch/patio that runs along the back now--it could be extended outward--before the pool scape starts...
most of the shade is close to the house--
that is another reason for me to move the pool out into the yard more...
I will have to take some pictures of the yard -- my explanations probably do more harm than good...

you must have a couple of acres for your house anyway...much more than our city lot...

I thought would try to post some pictures with water. The color is Tahoe Blue Pebbletec. The dimensions are 49' X 28" freeform 40,000 Gallons.

IMG]http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq156/mark1967_bucket/DSC00656.jpg[/IMG]

Second Try...

I think this might help with color choices... We had a difficult time but are happy with the Tahoe Blue.

Looks great. I like the layout, especially that the steps and sunshelf don't eat up the pool space by pulling them back.

Wish we were that creative on ours.

Enjoy.

gorgeous pool in a gorgeous setting, mark. is that a pond beyond?

Yes, we have a pool and a pond... (thats from "Caddie Shack") We swim in the pool, the pond is for my in-laws!!! :-)