Redesigning My Florida Pool

I'm a big fat liar!!!!

You just can't trust me!!!!

I replied to some readers asking to see more pictures of a yellow kitchen I did in Vermont, that I would be blogging about that soon.

BUT.....

 Today I want to start sharing with the class some of my exploits in renovating my home in Florida.

I love my house, I love my house, I love my house.

But it was really ugly when I bought it. 

The floor plan was GREAT!!

But the cosmetic aspects were UUUGGGHHH!!

So, I did what I always do and threw a whole bunch of money at it, hoping it would get better.

House prices in Florida are so much more affordable than Massachusetts, that I couldn't go as batshit as I did up there. Soooooo, I was somewhat careful in my plan of attack.

I will start with a picture of what it looks like today, because As everybody knows, in blogging the first picture is what gets posted on other sites.

(In case you keep wondering why I have lately been writing "as everybody knows", I am copying Phaedra Parks, from the Real Housewives of Atlanta. I am addicted, addicted, addicted I tell ya. I am a slave to all the Real Housewives shows. EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!!!!! OY!)

Where was I.....

I keep going off on tangents......

OH, here's a picture of my pool!!!!

Now let me show you what it looked like when I bought this house.

Actually, this is NOT what it looked like. This is after I did some landscaping. But I wanted to show you the same angle as the picture above. 

OK, THIS is what it looked like.

Nice and sterile and BARE!!!!!

That's a raised spa with a waterfall.

There are a several problems with this design.

1.  The sound of water running, makes me need to pee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. Since the spa runs into the pool, it didn't really get hot enough.
3. It was too big for the space, making the patio feel too small.
4. IT WAS REALLY, REALLY UGLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sooooooooooooo.....

One night I was sitting by my pool.....

luxuriating in the reality that I was sitting by my pool!

Enjoying a cocktail. (Boy I wished I still liked to drink, I don't anymore, what the hell is the matter with me????)

Anywho, I was sitting by the pool, looking with pure hatred at the raised spa, when I thought to myself...

"Self, I wonder if I can have it made into a planter????"

Next day I got on the horn (that means telephone), and started calling pool companies. 

Sooooooooooooooo...........

I found out that not only could they change it into a planter, but, they could cut the damn thing down to the level of the patio!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!

Sooooooooooooooo........

I went to the paver company and found a brick I liked, only it had chamfered edges (edges cut at a bevel). Well, Everybody knows that that ain't such a classy look. So I had the installers flip them over to the flat side, for a more traditional brick paver look.

This replaced the white concrete that the previous owners had put in CUSTOM!!

I REALLY didn't like the blue tiles that ran around the top of the pool, so I put on my investigative hat, and started trolling the Internet. 

I found a company that sold tiles that looked like Mexican tiles. It's hard to find an attractive tile for a pool, because of the extreme conditions to which the tiles are subjected. BUT I FOUND A SOLUTION. I was going to share my resource with you, but they seem to be out of business. In case you can find them, their name is:
Steuben Tile

But they may be just another victim of the Great Recession.

What a bummer.

ANYWAY,

Before I did all this, I had changed the landscaping alongside the screen house. 

OY!!!

I am totally telling this story backwards.

OK, let me start at the beginning.....

The reason I fell in love with the floor plan of my house, is because it forms a U that wraps around the patio that holds the pool. All the rooms, other than the den, open out onto the pool terrace.

Of course, with all the rooms looking out, having a really ugly space wasn't so great. In Florida, a lot of houses have screen rooms attached, so doors and windows can stay open to the outside. It's like a screen porch, only it has a screen roof too.

Soooooo.....

the pool and terrace feel like another room, not so much a side yard. WAY COOL!!!

This makes it even more important to create a pretty space (according to MOI)

(Great, now I sound like Miss Piggy!)

Sooooooo.......

Back to the landscaping......

In my development, we have something called

 "Zero Lot Lines".

This means that the houses are crammed right on top of each other, with my property line ending at my next door neighbors outside wall. To keep us from killing each other, allowing for privacy, there are no windows facing my house. Soooooo, although they are right next to me, I have complete privacy. The wall of my next door neighbors house forms the fourth wall of my outdoor room. I wanted to cover this with lush vegetation. 

So I did.

 First, I had them rip out the bushes.

Then they started bringing in the fishtail palms.

By now, I was jumping up and down, I was soooo excited.

 This is how it looked after they were planted with areca palms set in between the fishtails.

My friends told me that in just a few years, the fishtail palms would be up to the roof of the two story house next door, but being a northerner, I couldn't fathom plants growing that fast. HA!!!

Look at them now!

This is eight years later. I LOVE THEM!!!

I am going to stop here, as this is taking all day to write, and if I don't finish, I will never post it, and you will never get to read it.

(I will continue this next week, as I have a LOT to share!)

DON'T FORGET!!!!

Tuesday is the day I answer the questions!!!!

See ya Tuesday.

Betsy

Linking to:  

At the Picket Fence