If you’re building an inground pool, you’ve got plenty to think about. When it comes to landscaping, you may be tempted to change the subject and leave it until after your pool is built. Unfortunately, while you always have the option to change or add many landscaping features later on, you will have a lot more options if you start early in the process of building a pool. Ideally, as you’re looking at inground pool designs, you should also be hunting for inground pool landscaping ideas that will complement it.
The Importance of Swimming Pool Landscaping
Landscaping isn’t an option for your pool – it’s a necessity. At the very least, you will need paving around your pool – whether concrete, flagstone, brick, or tile. It not only makes your pool look nicer, but helps keep your pool clean. If you have dirt leading up to the edge of your pool, more dust and debris will naturally make its way inside.
Beyond that, there are many optional landscaping elements you may want to consider. Here are a few:
- A paved walkway leading up to the pool
- Trees and shrubbery to provide privacy and shade
- A patio for relaxing by the pool
That’s just a taste of the available options. Once you start to delve into backyard pool landscaping ideas, you’ll no doubt hit on many cool features that had never occurred to you.
Why It’s Important to Decide Early
There are three main reasons why you should be thinking about pool landscaping ideas early on:
1) It will have a big impact on your overall inground pool cost, and by extension, your budget planning
2) Many of the very coolest options need to be built in to the pool’s construction – these options won’t be available later on without an expensive renovation
3) Due to space requirements, it could change your thinking about the size of your pool – possibly prompting you to opt for a small pool
That said, when you’re building a swimming pool, you don’t want to get bogged down in too many details. If a landscaping feature can wait, just make a note and come back to it later. Focus on the decisions that need to be made to get your pool finished on time. While the pool is being installed, you’ll have more time to think about minor details (provided you’re not building the pool yourself, that is).
Where to Find Pool Landscaping Ideas
There’s no getting around it – coming up with ideas for landscaping is a time-consuming process. There are so many ideas, and no one but you can really judge how they will work in your pool environment. The last thing you want is to come up with the perfect landscaping idea after it’s too late to implement it.
As you plan your landscaping, you should go from very general ideas like the ones in this article toward more and more detailed options that could work for your pool. You can find a lot of pictures of inground pool landscaping at Houzz and other places on the internet. There are also books available that provide as many details as you can handle. Looking over all the options is time-consuming, but it can also be fun. If you embrace it, you’re likely to be much happier with your pool’s appearance – and that’s important, because you’ll be looking at it for a long time.
