Poolside Escapes

Poolside Cabana

This open-air pavilion provides the perfect escape from the heat during pool parties or evening entertaining in the summer. The blue-and-white color scheme, canvas curtains, a porthole-style window, and lots of chairs for lounging all reflect coastal style.

• Achieve Poolside Perfection

Urban Pool Retreat

This lap pool is bordered with luscious greenery making it resemble a river. 

Cottage Pool

For parties and other occasions when additional space is needed, the outdoor area overlooking this pool has the flexibility to serve as an extra room. When the weather is cool, large exterior doors can be shut and the double-hung windows closed. In warmer months, it opens to the wonderful terrace, and pool area accommodates more casual gatherings.

Poolside Container Garden

Whether you're dining al fresco or dangling your feet in the water, this pool space draws you into a lush canvas of textures, colors, and flowers.

• Finishing Touches of Pool Decor

Year-Round Pool House

This homeowner wanted an outdoor fireplace. By putting it under the porch, the family can use the fireplace and the pool house year-round even when it’s too cold to use the pool.

Blissful Pool

Large ‘Medjool’ palms flank this pool to offer some shade, while the trunks add a layer of contrasting tone and texture against the white walls. Underfoot is Dominican shellstone, a type of limestone found in the Caribbean. The stones are loosely packed and sand set. Spaces between them are seeded with green dichondra to soften them visually.

• Coastal Courtyard

Soothing Pool

You can mask the chatter of neighbors and drown out road noise with running water. The trickle of running water can also make a space seem cooler than it really is, and a simple fountain may be all you need to get the same effect.

Secret Lap Pool

This courtyard lap pool acts as a reflecting pool as much as a place for exercising. The sound of water adds serenity to outdoor areas.

Poolside Containers

For extra drama, this homeowner added spiky and vertical plants, such as ornamental grasses and caladiums, to her pots. Group several containers together in prominent locations around the pool, and stagger heights, if possible, as done here on the steps.

• Summertime Pool Oasis

Glorious Pool Oasis

Jets of water arch gracefully from both sides of the pool, lending elegance. Italian cypresses form stately columns. When the pool jets are off, the water mirrors the trees and gazebo. The gazebo's wooden arch perfectly frames the view of the pool and house.

Courtyard Pool

Besides several seating areas, this courtyard offers a fully functional outdoor kitchen. A shallow plunge pool offers a great place to cool off on hot summer days.

• Outdoor Kitchens

Low Maintenance Pool

The maintenance list for this back yard is short enough to fit on a sticky note. Native plants and natural material make upkeep a breeze. No sweeping beds of azaleas or rows of fussy flowers here. Elevated 2 feet above grade, the pool offers a commanding view of the landscape.

Natural Pool Oasis

Too often, pools and gardens are like distant cousins. But this space is a shining example of how water features and gardens can work well together. A long, narrow, rectangular lap pool is set into the middle of the yard. The shape provides plenty of room for swimming, while the location makes it the centerpiece of the design. Dark ribbons of dwarf mondo grass fill the cracks between flagstones. The mondo grass creates a cooler, less reflective surface and reinforces the natural-looking appearance of the space.

Exotic Tropical Style Pool

Designer and homeowner Muffie Faith of Elizabeth Stuart Design was inspired by Thailand and nearby Pawleys Isaland, SC when creating this Tropical Style Pool. Windmill palms that stand like architectural columns delineat the pool house entrance.

• See More of Muffie's Tropical Style Pool House