Often I see a large swimming pool in a backyard with an adjoining stone patio or deck that acts as a wedge between the house and pool. In most cases there is nothing to soften the hard line of the pool with the patio surface edge and you end up with a long and boring albeit functional edge to access the pool.
I have always tried to obscure this edge somewhat by breaking up the long surface with a garden not exactly in the middle but offset. This garden will allow you a place to plant a tree and gain the valuable vertical space these areas demand. The down side is that creating this garden space will block or hinder the east to west travel from the shallow end to the deep end. I have always considered it a necessary evil and the aesthetic benefits far outweighing the monetary “running on the pool deck” mentality.


Believe me this has been a super tough sell when discussing pool positioning with clients, and some have resigned themselves to it only to be presently surprised when it all comes together. So “loosen up” you have a large pool worth lots of patio surface to pool edge ratio, so you do not have to loose much of this, just enough.