The pool deck at this house in Lafayette, La., is made up of travertine pavers from Pava. The 10-foot tall natural rock waterfall at the far end of the pool serves two purposes as it also hides views of the homes across the river. One of the major challenges of this property was the slope leading down to the river. Grass Roots designed a 10-foot-high retaining wall system, which let them create an upper terrace so the pool and spa could be built on the same level as the house.

Sylvester palms surround the pool. They are uplit by Kichler 8.5w LED's with a 60-degree beam spread.

As summer takes a firm hold and the heat index rises, little is as inviting as a pool. With that in mind, we present three projects with a cooling effect.

The Swain's Home
Lafayette, Louisiana
As the center of Cajun culture, Lafayette, La., radiates an undeniable vibrancy. This is certainly evident at the residence of Jim & Darlene Swain where an ambitious undertaking by various companies including Grass Roots, Inc., led to the construction of a spacious home, featuring a large pool and spa.

Located in the community of River Ranch, the building site comprised two adjacent lots at the edge of the Vermillion River. Grass Roots was retained by the Swains to design the outdoor spaces before construction on the house began, so they were able to collaborate with the client, architect, and general contractor.

The landscape plans included the lagoon-style pool with two natural-rock waterfalls, a spa, a tropical landscape, and generous entertaining areas.

The homeowners wanted to have the pool area on the same level as the home without concealing their views of the river. To accomplish this, Grass Roots designed a 10-foot high retaining wall system and had it engineered.

The design and build landscaping company subcontracted and managed the hardscaping on the pool deck and walkways. The pool itself was constructed by Sabine Pools, also of Lafayette.

Charity Landry, a landscape architect at Grass Roots sums up, "We were able to tie the indoor and outdoor spaces together and have them relate to the large scale of the house while working with the existing slope of the land to entertain the desires of the client."

Located in Orange Hills, Calif., the backyard of this house had too steep of a grade, and too small of a pool for the kids to use. Outdoor Hardscapes removed the pool and excavated the yard, taking out an estimated 300 yards of dirt. They built a large retaining wall along the back property line and a second one to create a tier for the pool cabana and the spa. About 30 tons of stone was used throughout. The pool and the spa are made from shotcrete with a Pebble Tec surface. There is a spillway from the spa into the pool. Cameron sweetwater stone was used for the pool deck, the steps and the wall caps. The LED lights are from Focus Industries.

Coronado ledge stone was used on the walls and columns. Oreq provided the 48-inch tan boxes for the cascades. The fire bowls are from Pacific Stone, a local supplier, and the lanterns are from Restoration Hardware.

The Celebrity House
Orange Hills, California
Celebrities don't really live here but Outdoor Hardscapes refers to it as such because of the distinctive characteristics of its pool, spa, cascades, cabana, and its substantial use of stone.

The Southern California landscape company designed it with help from the homeowner who herself is an architect, and "a visionary" according to owner, Jim Walsh, who handled almost every detail of the build.

There was a postage stamp pool in the backyard of the house that was essentially not functional. And because of the steep grade, the homeowners' kids did not play in the yard very much.

The landscape contractor removed the pool and then had to do some extensive excavation. Walsh estimates that they removed 300 yards of dirt. They put in a forty-foot-long, two-foot-wide retaining wall at the back of the property and a smaller one that holds the cabana and is part of the pool shell.

Shotcrete was used for the rest of the pool's shell, as well as the spa's. Both were finished with Pebble Tec. Glass tile was used around the pool and for the Baja shelf. Outdoor Hardscapes installed cascading waterfalls that flow over the retaining wall into the pool.

To illuminate it all, the contractor installed 40 different LED lights and four firebowls. Walsh reports that the project actually started out small but eventually grew to almost a half million-dollar endeavor.

To create the waterfall and slide for a homeowner in Potomac, Md., Rowan Landscaping and Pools had to build up the area behind the pool. The waterfall was made from locally supplied Carderock stone. Two Pentair IntelliFlo variable speed pumps were installed - one for the waterfall, spa, pool, sheer descent, and Wallspring lion heads, the other for the water slide. Stonemont veneer was used for the retaining wall, which is capped by Pennsylvania blue flagstone. Rowan custom built the spa and slide out of Gunite. The existing pool was updated, which included adding a sun shelf, and then resurfaced with Pebble Tec.

The Seasholtz's Home
Potomac, Maryland
This residence in Potomac, Md., had an old black plaster pool that wasn't used much and was badly in need of a rehab. Rowan Landscape and Pools signed on to do that as well as upgrade the entire back yard to make it more appealing and functional.

They brought the pool up to current standards, added a sun shelf and had it resurfaced with Pebble Tec. The landscape company designed and installed a spa, slide, and waterfall.

There was extensive stonework, not only for the waterfall and pool wall, but for the paths, steps, and patio areas. Rowan Landscape and Pools does have a stonemason on staff but since this job amounted to four months of stonework, and their in-house installer was needed on other jobs, they hired a long-trusted stonemason to do the work.

According to the landscapers, the backyard is now an extension of the home for parties and relaxation – "an outdoor experience that calls you out into it."