In my opinion, nice pool landscaping is the key to making large water features like this work to your advantage as far as home value.

The one thing that I was nervous about when we decided to commit to adding an inground swimming pool design in our backyard, was that it would look like a trashy water park instead of an elegant escape from the world. Fortunately our designer knew exactly how to create magical backyard pool designs that look like an extension of your home rather than an eyesore. Perhaps my favorite part of the entire design, is the gorgeous brick paver stone deck that surrounds the entire area up to the pool house. If you are installing something with as high of a price tag as our inground pool cost, you want to go ahead and commit to making the rest of the area look fantastic as well. A little bit more money spent, turned into an absolutely dreamy outdoor oasis to enjoy this year.

My architect showed me this swimming pool design as a possible plan for our new outdoor entertaining area. With the average cost of inground pool being so high, I wanted to make sure that the surrounding deck and green space was beautiful enough that adding a large water feature would not hamper the desirability of our property. I like this design especially because the pool deck is done in a gorgeous flagstone that perfectly coordinates with the stucco exterior of their home and the mosaic fountain feature adds a bit of edge and decor to the overall look. Best of all they incorporated beautiful pool landscaping ideas that softens all of the harsh concrete that are characteristic of adding something like this to your backyard.

I came on here for swimming pool design inspiration, and boy did these galleries deliver. Of course my property in no where near as luxurious as this mountainside retreat, but I love the concept behind the swimming pool ideas that they used. Their surrounding deck is like a work of art with the gorgeous cobalt mosaic tile surrounding the spa and the unique geometric tile design made of contrasting shades of granite. Of course, the inground pool designs are topped off by awesome LED underwater lighting that makes it look like you are lounging beside a club in Vegas or in a tropical resort.

How awesome is our new swimming pool design?! We gave our architects and landscapers very specific guidelines as to what types of small pool designs we wanted because I knew that in a property of our size we would be limited with what we could do. Above all, I did not want to overcrowd are backyard and I wanted to add value to our home. I think that this rock quarry style design is just so cool looking. As you can see we have a classic style home (which I love) but I didn't want to put one of those typical inground swimming pools behind it and take away from the architecture. I wanted it to look a bit natural (obviously we don't have a naturally occurring rock cave in our backyard) and something that the kids would enjoy bringing their friends to over the years.

It has actually been very hard for me to find any examples of a modern style swimming pool design that would work well next to the extremely contemporary architecture of our home. I know that, in general, most luxury swimming pools do have a more modern vibe to them given their fairly clean and geometric lines and natural materials like concrete and stone. But, beyond that, I wanted something that would look like an element of abstract art in our backyard. This high end California home is the perfect example of what we are trying to achieve in creating modern pool designs. I love the very industrial vibe of the pool house that blends in perfectly with the fountain water features leading into the main basin.