Fountain of youth: these newly renovated older pools enticed their owners to fall in love with them all over again - Aqua Scapes

Pool & Spa News, Oct 3, 2003 by Julie Sturgeon

"Guests inevitably ask, 'Has this always been here?'" Collins says. "And to me that is the biggest compliment I can receive. I know we built it, but I'm still fooled myself.

"It just makes me swell out my chest and say, 'My goodness, we pulled it off!' every time I see it."

Project cost: $175,000 for all waterfeatures

Reaching Beyond the Usual

Elite Concepts

Lewisville, Texas

The first thing Michael Nantz noticed about this upscale property, set just around the corner from a Four Seasons resort, was its uninspiring use of color.

The homeowners had washed the entire exterior--brick and siding alike--in a drab olive hue. The monochromatic tones virtually destroyed all shadows and absorbed textures, making the house all but disappear. Warmth was nowhere to be found. For instance, the oversized living room contained just three pieces of furniture: a small cobalt blue sofa, a canary yellow sitting chair and a tangerine chair.

The setting didn't exactly set Nantz's heart a-beatin', but it provided a challenge and the perfect backdrop for him to buck current consumer trends. "My clients have me boxed into the organic look right now. They flip through the book, pick it out, and I'm secretly screaming, 'No, not again!'" he says.

As for the pool, it was "20-year-old ugly," as Nantz describes it. The original brick coping no longer made sense. And the pool's shape was a geometric hodgepodge, with an attached triangular spa creating a right angle on one end and the other side of the pool forming a, contorted octagon.

First, Nantz wanted to clean up the angular confusion. He did this by building 45-degree right angles in two comers of the pool, then connecting them with straight lines to form a trapezoid. This left a long, smooth line more appropriate for the setting. To maintain the simple form, he kept the spa within the pool's confines, with a black-tile dam wall to help it blend in effectively.

A negative edge would further add to the pool's slick appeal.

Nantz wanted his materials choices to add a little warmth yet maintain the contemporary look. A light tan deck accented the home's olive tones. Not only did this material heat up the ambience, but it provided sharp contrast--that hallmark of contemporary design--against a chic, neutral charcoal plaster interior. He decided to eliminate the traditional coping band altogether.

To accent the pool, Nantz and the homeowners wanted a small waterfeature. A reflection pond takes on the pool's trapezoidal shape and spills 3 feet to a pool-level reservoir. Floating steps visually connect the catch basin with the main swimming area. To stay true to the shape, Nantz even had the masons cut one of the floating stones at an angle to mirror the angle of the spillway.

Before inking the deal, Nantz needed to make sure the original builder knew his chops. This was especially crucial given the local soil conditions. Woodbine Strata, the expansive clay found in Texas' hill country, has a potential vertical rise of 12 inches a year, meaning the soil can lift up to 12 inches in a single year. To see how the original builder worked, Nantz crawled under the house to check the foundation. The 1-foot-thick, 6-foot-tall grade beams supporting the home told Nantz that the builder understood the soil conditions and was proactive in containing them.