When it comes to your swimming pool design, varied geometries, materials and plantings can be used to create the style that suits you—from the most dramatic play of water to the most fun playing in the water. Usually designed by a landscape architect who manages the construction and oversees all the details and nuances, swimming pools come in all shapes and sizes. A water work of art, a cocktail pool, an Olympic-sized pool or a water-park for children are just a few pool design examples.

A luxury swimming pool is a necessity for of any upscale home in Houston Texas. The pool design finishes off the home design because it is a logical extension of your indoor living space. When it comes time to sell your home, it is an expected amenity. Additionally, swimming pools are great for entertaining, formal or informal, adults or children. They provide healthful exercise; swimming has long been recognized as one of the kinder activities on joints and ligaments. In this area of the country, they provide a natural place to cool off during the long Houston summer season.

Issues to Consider

• Salt systems. There are pros and cons to this popular choice. Jeff Halper with Exterior Worlds says, “The main thing to remember is that you need to be aware of your surrounding material choices if you use a salt system. Salt has a corrosive effect and it can cause soft decking material to deteriorate.”

• Spas and outdoor water fountains. Swimming pools are an excellent place to work in a spa or an outdoor water fountain. For one thing, the maintenance of an additional body of water is completely eliminated by having both elements connected. Some of the necessary equipment for one water feature, such as the chlorinator, auto-fills for water, lights and filters, are redundant and therefore not needed.

• In today's market, you have a wide range of materials to choose from for your pool design. A short list of quality finishes entails:

1. Plaster. This category includes marcite, which hardens like concrete and seals the interior of the pool. Upgrades include popular brand names like Diamond Brite™ and 3M™ Colorquartz™, which are quartz finishes in a wide range of colors and textures. Another upgrade is exposed aggregate, a tumbled rock that is slightly larger than quartz. Pebble Tec® and River Rok are well-known brands.

2. The color of the plaster. Manufacturers now offer an array of colors for pool finishes. Or you can go with a more neutral palette that provides a timelessness and avoids a dated look when fashion changes.

3. Coping (the area that immediately surrounds the pool). In landscape design, coping merges the indoors with the outdoors. Popular choices are tile, stone and brick. Care should be taken to create a non-slippery surface in the immediate wet area. Also you will want to consider how your choice for coping material matches, contrasts and enhances the exterior of your home.

Bring In a Pro

Exterior Worlds, a landscape design and build company, brings a great deal of experience to the pool design process, including (but not limited to): relating the design to the rest of the landscape; pathways to and from the pool area; outdoor kitchens; proper pool lights and other landscape lighting; glare reduction (for example, you don't want the lights to shine onto dining terraces or the main patio area); excellent construction practices; tree preservation; drainage techniques that reduce the impact on trees and heighten the aesthetics of visible drains.

A big factor in hiring Exterior Worlds to handle your pool design is the overall vision and concern it has for the entire project. Pool contractors generally aren't concerned with the whole landscape design project and make common mistakes, like setting the pool elevations too high or too low and not respecting the home's architecture or the landscape architecture, which is critical. Exterior Worlds excels at working with a discriminating clientele and all their landscape design needs.