Want a swimming pool but don’t think you have enough space to accommodate the pool of your dreams? These inspiring ideas for smaller swimming pools are as gorgeous as they are inviting, even if it’s just for a little swim!
Fresh Perspective
‘We had always wanted a pool hanging off a cliff,’ says the owner of this weekend property in the mountains. While he and his wife were out on a hike, they spotted a small recess in the mountainside that presented the ideal position for precisely that dream swimming pool. The spot soon became the key location around which they built the rest of their retreat.
Simple Pleasure
Owned by an artist, this home evokes the Japanese aesthetic principle of wabi-sabi, celebrating elements of the imperfect as an essential part of any well-made and inviting design. Following a renovation, this small interior courtyard is devoted to the swimming pool, which is so secluded, says its owner, that it is ‘perfect for daytime skinny dipping’.
Level Up
Tucked into a tiny linear space alongside an equally compact house, this lap swimming pool has been designed to make the very most of a small footprint. The area is made to feel more spacious by the stepped level changes, a strategically placed sailcloth shade over a simple built-in bench, and potted creepers which draw the eye upwards along the boundary wall.
Top Tip: Planting fast-growing creepers to clamber up the whitewashed brick wall adds a further dimension of texture, softening the space and adding an organic counterpoint to the architecture.
Double Duty
The way this lap swimming pool is integrated into the design of the house and landscaping around it means that it’s both an inviting place to swim and an eye-catching feature. The pavilion-style architecture of the house is perfectly complemented by the strong , simple lines of the outdoor area here, including those provided by the long and narrow pool.
Top Tip: This home’s location – adjacent to a beach – means that the outdoor elements take a battering from the sun. Hence the use of the screed finish around the pool’s edge, which can be easily cleaned and won’t fade or degrade.
Mediterranean Cool
Outdoor living need not be a complicated business, as this compact back garden of a pared-back holiday home shows. On a hot summer’s day, a little bit of shade, a table and chairs, and a simple rectangular cold-water swimming pool are all that one requires for complete contentment. Well, maybe a long, cold drink of some sort wouldn’t go amiss?…
Top Tip: This outdoor living area is centred on the salt-water swimming pool, which has a classic blue mosaic interior. It is made even more of a central feature by its raised surrounding wall. The shade cloth affords protection from the sun for the seating area. Anchored using simple hooks, it can be moved around or even removed altogether, as the sun shifts its position throughout the day.
Take The Plunge
‘You plant whatever will grow,’ says the homeowner of this garden on the edge of a coastal reserve. ‘We spent a fortune on bulbs but lost them all overnight to a hungry porcupine.’
But while the garden design was trial and error, the raised plunge swimming pool was an instant success: something about water pumped through a simple cascade water feature adds a therapeutic sense of calm.
Top Tip: It’s useful to think of a plunge pool as a water feature as well as a practical resource. This area is a good example of such an approach, as the pool, a leafy canopy of Erythrina trees, and inviting outdoor furniture combine to create an alluring space.
Words by Robyn Alexander
Production: Sven Alberding
Photography: Greg Cox/Bureaux, Warren Heath/Bureaux, Elsa Young/Bureaux
