What’s the Best Way to Light Your Pool?

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You’ve spent all kinds of time and money designing your pool, but did you give much thought to landscape lighting? Chances are you’re going to want to use your pool after sunset, so you need to get it right. You could always mount a floodlight or spotlight on your house, or even on a tree, but that’s old-school. There have been a lot of advances over the past few years when it comes to pool design and lighting.

The big trend now is LED lighting – it’s a way of transforming your pool into a totally different experience. You can use different colors spread all around your pool, install them under the coping, or even embed them in the walls, and you’ll get a wonderfully soft glow that just spreads rainbows over the water. With LED lighting, you can even customize your lighting to coincide with the holidays – red, white and blue for the Fourth of July? Red and green for Christmas? Why not? You can also create different effects using filters. The possibilities are endless, so why not think about lighting up your pool in ways that are a little bit different from what you’re used to?

Another benefit of LED lighting is that it’s low-voltage, so your energy costs are reduced. It’s soft, effective, and safe. You can place LED lights strategically, so that they shine down into your pool or up into the trees – either way, you and your guests will be able to wander about the yard and travel the pool deck without having to worry about tripping over obstacles. And just in terms of sheer aesthetic appeal, LED lighting will create an outdoor atmosphere that will make people want to spend more time poolside. That definitely makes sense – you spent all that money installing your pool, so of course you want people to spend as much time out there as possible. With LED lighting, they can do it safely and securely.

For that matter, even if you’re the kind of person who likes to spend time indoors in Kansas City or Overland Park, imagine looking out at your poolscape and enjoying the visual effect of multi-colored LED lighting. It’s so calming and easy on the eyes!

 

Creating a Pool Area That People Will Want to Use

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How many times have you said it? “Use the pool, or I’m taking it out!” Realistically, you can’t be blamed – you spent all that time and effort on pool design because your family said they wanted a pool, and now they’re not using it.

But think about this – it’s possible that if they’re not using the pool, it’s because the design isn’t all that great. Now you’re saying “What am I supposed to do? It’s already installed!” Well, you can still modify.

Think about the area around your pool that gets the most use. It’s where the most people gather, right? And now you’re saying “Well, isn’t that obvious!” Maybe so… but you’d be surprised how many people don’t take this into consideration. They crowd all the living facilities (you know, tables, chairs and so on) into a far-off corner, and just leave a huge expanse of deck that’s got nothing at all going on.

This is an easy fix – spread the furniture around. Maybe think about adding a fire pit to encourage people to socialize. Also, think about what people are looking at while they’re lounging poolside. Most of the time, people orient everything away from the wall of the house. But that can actually be a mistake – sometimes it’s actually better to look at an attractive façade than it is to look at the neighbor’s back yard. If your family or guests are looking out past the house, but at something that’s not really appealing, why not think about upgrading your façade? Nothing wrong with turning your back on the neighbors!

Look at the deck, too. Is it attractive? Is it functional? Does it invite socialization, or is it just a means of access to that pool that we’ve already determined no one is using? It’s pretty much a given that if the deck is attractive and the pool is inviting, you won’t have to be threatening your family with uninstalling the pool. However, if the deck doesn’t draw them in, there’s very little else you’re going to be able to do to convince them to use the pool.

Why not get the family together and ask them what they’d like to see in terms of pool deck design? You could have the best backyard in all of Kansas City or Overland Park – all you need is a little input.

One Fabulous Kansas City Pool Deck

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Whether you’re just installing your swimming pool, or looking for ways to make your existing pool more inviting, you should consider your Kansas City pool deck area as being every bit as important as the pool itself. In fact, it could be argued that when it comes to pool design, the deck is actually more important – that’s because most people actually spend considerably more time on the deck than they do in the water. Read more