Check out this pool design and take note of some strategies the designer used to make it feel welcoming and warm. https://www.houzz.com/projects/312471

Groupings of seating include some shade, some with tables and some with lounge chairs.

Plantings along the fence provide height and a feeling of enclosure. Can you plant a bed just outside the chain link to create a similar effect, or add arched extensions like the top of a shepherd’s hook on the fence posts of the wooden fence to provide supports for baskets of trailing plants to give an illusion of tall plants?

Many of the large pots have ornamental foliage that helps provide color when plants aren’t blooming, and some pots contain tall plants to give additional height. Even pots that have tripods with vines such as mandevilla can provide height.

Pots in that type of exposed areawill need frequent attention to water, porous but water retentive potting medium, and either time release fertilizer or regular dilute fertilizer added when watering.