The perfect staycation: transforming a cottage backyard into dream oasis

by arslan_ahmed | April 20, 2023 12:56 pm

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By Jason Mitchell

With two kids at home, this family was happy to have a space that complemented their active, healthy lifestyles. Like many, they decided early in the pandemic to look for additional real estate, with more room to roam in a country cottage. After an exhaustive search, they revaluated, and started looking for their forever home with lots of property instead. When they found the property in Uxbridge, Ontario, the homeowners called Pool Craft—the same company that built their first pool in 2015—to install their new forever pool. For pool builders, repeat clients are a true testament to the company, its team, and their design and installation process.

The plan for the design

The plan was to take all the elements the family felt they would enjoy in a cottage and bring it into their dream backyard. The wish list included a large pool with room to play, a hot tub, a water feature, and a large patio.

The pre-construction canvas was rolling meadows with a few trees scattered throughout, and a mature forest in the back.

Every project starts with a site visit where measurements and elevation levels are recorded. On this site, slight elevation changes meant some retaining would be needed to step down to the proposed pool area. The existing landscape had some flagstone the homeowners liked and wanted to keep close to the house. Overall, the initial challenges on the site were few.

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The homeowners worked with the team and came up with a design featuring a pool running horizontal to the house, a side patio for an open sitting area, and a pergola. The design was finalized in November 2021 and the company was excited to break ground in spring 2022.

The unforeseen challenge

One of the biggest hurdles Pool Craft experienced, on all projects during the pandemic, was the time lag between planning and building. Supply issues meant everything needed to be booked and ordered well before execution, but the time lapse before breaking ground gave homeowners months to anticipate and add other elements to their projects, or simply, change their minds.

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The design team went to stake out the pool and conduct a final site meeting with the homeowners in early spring, but by this time they had five months to visualize how they would want to use the new space. The unknown challenge was the covered porch on one side of the home, which was also the main exit and entry point for the backyard. The initial design had been laid out with this in mind, but after staring out the large windows in the centre of the house for months, the homeowners decided that spot would make a grand entrance to the extravagant new backyard. French doors opening to the pool stretched out before them became the new vision.

A week before digging, the design was rotated to run perpendicular to the house. Changing gears quickly in an unforgiving market is not easy. The pool’s circulation had to be changed to accommodate the new water feature placement, the feature wall with three sheer descents moved to the end of the pool, the spa moved, and additional plumbing was required. The original plan to keep the existing patio had to be updated and expanded to more than 158 m² (1,700 sf). A new entrance had to be formed off the house, where the proposed French doors would be installed.

Thankfully, there was no change to the permit; the size of the property, which was more than a hectare (acre), combined with the town of Uxbridge not having a limitation on hardscaping, meant no required plan adjustment.

Five days after the changes were made, the team had the design, material, elevation, and digs updated in time to meet the scheduled start date.

The building process

The construction process was seamless. Trenching, gas, electrical, and plumbing went as scheduled. A few trees needed to be removed to accommodate the new layout, but nothing extensive had to be done that would hold up the job.

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However, vinyl availability in 2022 was an issue. There was often an eight-week long delay in production. Best practices include installing the liner as the last item and typically, this includes the completion of all landscaping as well. In some cases, this meant backyards were completed first and homeowners had to keep waiting for the liner to use their pool. For this project, the turnaround time on the updated patio extended the landscape timeline, but ultimately, it lined up perfectly with the vinyl delivery.

The final product is a 4 x 10 m (16 x 36 ft) rectangle pool—which is now the focal point of the backyard, perfectly framed off the main room of the house.

The pool boasts a 2-m (7-ft) custom steel sun-ledge/step combination, complete with a bubbler. It was designed for in-pool loungers, and as a play area for kids. The vinyl liner selection provides a muted blue water colour, which calmly complements the surroundings.

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The pool’s feature focus, a retaining ledge-rock wall in the deep-end houses three sheer descents: two 0.6-m (2-ft) sheers, and one 0.9-m (3-ft) sheer.

The raised spa, which has spa-side automation, completes the water feature filled project as it, too, spills into the pool.

Additional features

Four lights were added, two in the pool, one in the bubbler, and one in the spa. The distribution of the lights accentuates all the angles and water flow, further enhancing the area.

The system is run using two variable-speed pumps (VSPs), a cartridge filter, a 300,000 British thermal unit (BTU) heater, and an automation system which controls the pool, water features, and lighting.

Landscaping material was chosen to complement the exterior stone of the home and blend in with the palette the surrounding nature provided. The colours used are slate grey, with the pavers being beige, and the ledge rock being brown.

To soften the modern edges and blend in with the surroundings, freeform gardens encircle the hardscaping. Boxwood and hydrangea will grow to fill in these shapely gardens. In addition, sod was laid to quickly transform this space into a completed oasis.

Landscape lighting also dramatically enhances this space after dark. Ground lighting in front and behind the trees illuminate the leaves, while an upper light casts downward in the front, almost giving a 3D effect. Garden lighting accentuates the softscaping and marks the pathways, accent lighting added to the feature wall and under steps emphasizes the stone; and landscape lighting combined with the pool lighting makes the space glow in the evening.

Pool Craft repurposed the original flagstone the homeowners loved, placing them away from the pool area, elevated slightly from the home, as a quaint little fire pit patio. The homeowners spend early evenings here, sharing a cocktail, unwinding, watching the sunsets, and overlooking their dream backyard.

In the end, the dramatic change right before installation gave these homeowners a whole new view. Some processes were duplicated, but the finished product is exactly what they wanted. The flexibility of Pool Craft’s team, especially in such a challenging year, amplifies their pride in this project.

Crafting a backyard escape

Author

With more than 20 years of experience in the industry, Jason Mitchell is the president of Pool Craft, a full-service pool company that specializes in all aspects of pool planning, installation, and backyard design in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He is also the co-owner of Stone Craft Inc., a landscape company. Mitchell can be reached via email at jason@poolcraft.ca.

Source URL: https://www.poolspamarketing.com/trade/features/the-perfect-staycation-transforming-a-cottage-backyard-into-dream-oasis/

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