Backyard Oasis- Part 3 Update

We are now in week number 3 of our backyard renovation. It has been pure craziness since day 1 of the dig but there soon will be an end in site. The boys are getting very excited and I will be happy to have my backyard back. 

Before any of the craziness could begin though we had the huge task of deciding just what we wanted our pool to look like. There are so many choices and the sky really is only limited to your imagination and of course $$$!;)

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The lagoon style pool has a very tropical feel to it with lots of rock and lush landscaping. If you are looking for a tropical oasis then this pool is the way to go and a lot of what you see around us.

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Then there are the more modern style pools. Not a lot of fuss going on just clean lines and simplicity.

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When looking thru my inspirations that I have been collecting over the past few years I found that I leaned more to the Grecian style pools. The Hubster and I wanted something that fit the style of our home and we felt that the Grecian style did just that.

We sat down and showed our pool designer my inspiration pics and described the feel we were trying to achieve with our pool. This is what we landed up on.

So the hole was dug and rebar installed.

Next up came the gunite installation. 

It was truly amazing watching them sculpt the gunite into our design. We joked that our pool looked more like a mid evil castle at this point.

Then came in the plumbing and electrical install which made the yard 100X more messy.

After the plumbing and electrical went in it was time to form the patio extensions and install the pool coping.

We are just loving how the coping came out.

To date they are working on finishing up the tile work. 

With the tile work coming to end we needed to decide on what color we wanted our pool plaster to be. These are all the Peeble Sheen colors we had to choose from. Who knew there were so many decisions that go into building a pool!?

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We also needed to decide on what we wanted our patio overlay to look like and this is our inspiration pic for that. We meet with the overlay specialist this week and I can not wait! Our Peeble Sheen install happens this week as well and the landscaping begins. If all stays on track we are told that there should be water in our pool by the weekend!:) After the Peeble Sheen is installed the overlay specialist will be back next week to do the patio and we will be complete! Then we will celebrate with margaritas!;)

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AN backyard oasis, classic pool, grecian pool, pool design, pool install

Backyard Oasis- Part 2

Our backyard renovation has officially begun! Can  you hear our squeals of delight!?:)

The first thing that needed to be taken care of were the stick pine trees on the side of our home. They needed to come down so the contractors could access the backyard. We had absolutely no problem with that because as you can see they were leaning over our home! Ekkk. We had been wanting to get rid of them since the day we moved in. The skinniest one actually has already had its top break off. Thankfully it did not fall on the house. We wish we could have had it taken down as well but it is in the neighbors yard and I do not think they would have taken kindly to that!;)

It did not take them long at all to get the trees down though I was sweating it the entire time. One bad move and oh my what could have been the end result. 

The stumps were ground up and this is how our yard looks now. It is one huge mess to say the least but we know it is a means to an end. Trust me though when I say it is driving me insane.

The same day the trees came down we said good bye to the swing set we built for the boys 4 years ago. It took us an entire month to complete the build so it was kinda hard to watch it fall for us all. We tried to figure out how to save it but in the end it just needed too much repair.

In the meantime The Hubster and I had a few choices we had to make for the main attraction to our backyard oasis. This place had tile galore! It took us almost three hours but we finally did make a decision.

I had fallen instantly in love with this tile. You can not tell it but it actually has a pearly sheen to it and is just beautiful.

These are a few of the other tile choices we made that day as well. Can you figure out what we are up to yet!?;)

If not this pic should give it away for sure. Here they are digging a great big hole in our back yard!

Yep, we decided to put a pool in. These here are the two most excited little boys ever! A pool has been something we have weighed on for more than several years now. We even talked about doing it at our last home in Baton Rouge if we were to have staid there. We always felt that the boys were just too little. They both are great swimmers now so it eases our minds to an extent though we know the GPs on both sides will continue to worry. It is their job!:)

We are a tad further along in the process now and I can not wait to share with y'all the next step! I told ya this is the biggest project for us yet and now ya see why we are not doing it ourselves!;)

There are so many decisions that go into a pool from the shape of the pool to what type of filtration system to ascetics. It certainly is enough to make your head hurt at times because they are all decisions that you will be stuck with for the life of your pool or the next 15 years which is how long the pool finish should last.

Stay tuned......

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AN backyard oasis, backyard renovation, pool install