By Lana

For those of you that have been following us for a while, you’ll know the journey of my “forever home” renov began two years ago when we installed a whopping big fibreglass pool. Back then, I had no idea that Santorini would become the inspo for my house, so the pool area was not created with the Mediterranean in mind. Lots of timber, not enough white 😉

So, when the time came to renovate the house, we took the opportunity to make some small changes to the pool area to tie it in more closely with my vision for a Santorini-inspired modern Mediterranean villa.

Here’s how we rebooted my pool...

PAINTED THE TIMBER SCREENS WHITE
(DULUX CASPER WHITE QTR)

PAINTED THE RETAINING WALLS WHITE
(DULUX CASPER WHITE QTR)

ADDED A "HOUSE OF BAMBOO" ROOF TO THE PERGOLA

ADDED SOFT FURNISHINGS - OUTDOOR CUSHIONS AND SHEER FABRIC BOTH FROM GRACE GARRETT'S MEDITERRANEAN COLLECTION

ADDED MORE POTS AND MORE PALMS

They’re pretty simple and small changes but they all work together to freshen up the space.

Now, whenever we show pics of my pool we get loads of questions about it – pools seem to be a hot topic in many households and now is a great time (coming into winter) to install a pool in time for summer.

HERE'S SOME INFO ABOUT MY POOL #KNOCKYOURSELFOUT

My pool is a fibreglass Compass Pool. It’s the X-Trainer shape, 9.4m x 4.2m and the colour I chose is called Pacific (there wasn’t a “Mediterranean” option, unfortunately 😉)

Fibreglass pools are awesome – If you can believe it, I never knew these even existed but I’m convinced they will overtake concrete pools in popularity. They are cheaper, faster, gentler, warmer, cleaner and greener! What more could you want!? Let me explain:

+ Cheaper: they cost around 20% less than a concrete pool to install and ongoing costs are lower due to less maintenance, chemicals and energy consumption.
+ Faster: installation takes only 3 weeks instead of 3 months (in fact I’ve read they can be installed in just 3 days! Surely not!?)
+ Gentler: the non-abrasive surface is softer on your feet (no torn-up tootsies) and fibreglass is not as rock-hard as concrete if your kids accidentally hit the bottom.
+ Warmer: fibreglass acts a natural insulator so it holds in the heat for longer.
+ Cleaner: the gel-coating is smooth and non-porous preventing the growth of mould and algae.
+ Greener: less cleaning, less chemicals, less energy consumption = smaller carbon footprint.

PS - I have a pool that cleans itself! There’s no Kreepy-Krauly (yes that's how you spell it;-), no vacuums, no ugly tubes floating around to spoil the vista, and I've never had to use the pool scoop they gave me. No – instead my Compass Pool came has a self-cleaning system. In-floor nozzles pop up and flush water around the pool pushing all the leaves and debris towards an in-floor drain in the deep-end. This drain sends the debris into large leaf baskets which you empty maybe once a month (and it takes all of 30sec). In a nutshell, we don’t need to clean our pool. Leaves and sticks drop in our pool all the time. I see them on the surface and I see them on the bottom. But when I look back a few hours later they’ve vanished and the pool is sparkling clean. It’s astonishing don’t you think? Oh… and of course this means you get much more time to enjoy the pool rather than clean it!

VIEW THE PREVIOUS POOL POST HERE