Having a home swimming pool is a wonderful thing, your own private oasis that you can dive into on a hot day, or enjoy a refreshing night time dip in. The thing is, most home pool sides look more like a barren and business-like public pool than they do an oasis, just a few dilapidated chaise lounges and maybe a lonely beach umbrella poking up from a picnic table, blah, boring, and bland! It doesn’t have to be that way, with the following tips you can transform your poolside into a real urban oasis that will put the ritziest hotel pools to shame!
- Fancy Fencing – In Australia you are required by law to have your poolside be protected by a pool fence that is gated and kept secure when not in use. These fences come in many attractive designs, but they can be taken to a higher level with the addition of some adornment. Hang up textile artwork and woven grass matting to give your poolside an exotic feel. You can also hang flower boxes from them to bring extra life and colour to the area, making it feel like your own personal Eden.
- Make Some Shade – All too often swimming pools and their surroundings are completely exposed to the sun, making it uncomfortable to lounge in and around during the heat of the day. You can solve this problem by erecting some tropical style grass roofing over a simple bamboo framework along one poolside wall to create a shady area within. Place some comfortable rattan tables and chairs under there to create a kasbah feeling, the perfect place to sip some fruity tropical drinks by the pool.
- Light It Up – String lights aren’t just for Christmas, place strings of solid coloured lights like blue or green along the fence to foster a festive feeling. Hang pendant lights under your shade roofing to add to the romance, and put up some solar powered faux tiki torches around the area for a tropical glow. Lastly, light a few candles on those balmy evenings by the pool, their friendly flicker will add greatly to the romantic feeling, just be sure to use them safely!
- The Furnishings – Most modern lawn and garden furniture that you find at the local home store these days is, well, to put it bluntly, ugly! Plastic in garish red or plain old white is fine for the public pool, but you want your home’s watery oasis to be something special. We have gone with a tropical, natural material theme so far, so let’s continue! Use beautiful rattan and bamboo furniture to make it feel as if you have left your back door for a holiday in the South Seas, it will be as if you’ve walked into a dream!
- Vegetation – We already have some flowers festooning the fence, now let’s add some trailing vines to create a mystical jungle milieu. No oasis is complete without some palm trees, smaller species can be placed in attractive ceramic pots beside the pool while larger trees can be grown just outside the fence to add their cheerful waving fronds to the exotic atmosphere!
We hope this inspires you, enjoy your pool oasis!
