It’s been a hot minute since we’ve shared the pool progress on the blog. We started digging our in-ground pool late last summer, and the one year mark is already upon us.
Last fall, we finished the pool just in time for the cold months to hit us, but we still got to enjoy it! Even though, we managed to finish the pool late last fall, the landscaping and our new deck build had to wait until this year.
And now the landscaping is complete, we’re just waiting for those flowers to bloom big! And our deck railing will be here any day.
This summer has been one of the best of the bests. I’ve dreamt of having an in-ground pool my entire life, so I’m not taking one day for granted and am enjoying it to the fullest. This place has been filled with family and friends! All Summer Long! This makes my heart so happy.
That’s exactly what we designed this space for. Welcome, give, love on, laugh, dance, spoil, bring peace, joy, positive energy and swim within! We’ve been creating a lifetime of impactful memories and having deep conversations and that’s exactly what we want to continue to do right here.
Let’s get down to the details.
Before
Right where this big tree is straight ahead is where the pool is now. One of the bummers was that we had to remove this gorgeous tree!
But we didn’t have many other options as to where we could put the pool. We have a septic on the other side of our home in the backyard, so the options were limited.
The pool also had to be a certain size. Jamie wanted a diving board and I wanted a large sundeck, so we ended up going with 20 x 40.
We built the pool right off of our addition, sport court, that we added in the previous year. Check the reveal here if you are interested in this project.
We now love being able to walk straight from our sport court to the patio and find ourselves up by the pool. It’s made it convenient for the kids to play in back and forth, run to the bathroom or to get to the bar area quickly, which is all in our basement, off of the sport court.
Under Construction
We’ve gotten asked why we didn’t go with fiberglass and the reason is because we live in Minnesota, and our state has a lot of ground movement. The advantage of steel over fiberglass when it comes to in-ground pools in Minnesota is obvious. Maintaining the chemical property of the water can be difficult due to calcium hardness, and steel offers a less expensive way to do that.
Fiberglass in-ground pools have to keep a calcium level under 200 and most people, especially on wells, have to be under 300 – and we’re on a well. We have a better size, for steel. If trucked in, we are limited. Fiberglass pools will also cost more by the time you get a crane to get out and pay for shipping. So it depends on where you live. And this is why we went with steel.
After
This space makes me so stinking happy, as I’m typing this and looking at it right now from my window. It is a gorgeous day! I don’t even have to be outside and in it to enjoy it.
Just looking at the water while I work brings so much creativity and peacefulness to my mind. Every morning I grab my cup of coffee and simply sit by the water and get mentally ready for the day.
In the evenings, Jamie and I rest and enjoy and listen to the birds chirp, water flow, and as of lately have nightly fires and just chat about life. We contemplated waiting a couple more years to put the pool in, since we had just finished our sports court, and now I’m regretting not doing it earlier.
It was worth every penny! And there’s never time like the present to live life to the fullest.
Only a couple more weeks, and we’ll finally have that deck railing on too. We’re going with a rod railing from View Rail and I cannot wait! It’s going to tie everything in so perfectly.
When designing out our pool area, we knew we wanted some sort of patio area. And we kept going back and forth on if we wanted a table to sit and eat at, or more of a lounging area with a fire pit.
Whenever undecided what I always tell clients is to live in the space for a bit before you make a decision. And boy, am I glad we did just that. We quickly realized that our kids get way too much food in the pool, so we decided for now while they’re young, we don’t want them eating down by the water, and we can keep that table up on the deck.
So we went with this fire pit table and we thrifted the chairs, couch, and bed from Open Box in St. Francis in MN. If you hang with us on stories on Instagram you know that is one of my favorite places to shop. We got all of our patio pool furniture for under $500. And I’m saying all of it, even around the pool as well.
They had so many options, it was hard to decide which one we wanted to go with. We knew we wanted for it to be rectangular and black, and to have a table to set food and drinks on.
In the end, we went with the Monte Carlo Linear Gas Fire Pit Table from The Outdoor Great Room Company. And you won’t find a night, currently, that Jamie and I, whether we’re together, solo, or as a family aren’t enjoying every evening here.
This table has a clean and simple look to it. It will surely complete your outdoor entertaining space. A reflective black glass top sits atop a black metal base for a smooth, ultra-modern design.
We had a mix of landscapers that helped us out with outside of the pool area. We hired Sparkle to do the pool, Dk Concrete Services for the concrete, G & M Outdoor Services for the big boulders and rock, and a wonderful guy name Scott for the additional landscaping work (who doesn’t have a website and only does referral work).
Price Tag
On average you can spend anywhere from $60 – $150K on an in-ground pool. When we started on this journey we budgeted $100K.
And here is a breakdown of what we ended up paying in the end.
Total for the pool only came to $104,780.00 (without landscaping).
Once we got the additional paver patio, floral, rock in, we spent another $25K. This does not include the deck. So now when asked what someone should budget for, I recommend $130K. But again, this is dependent on the size of the pool and landscaping you do. For example, had we not done a pool deck we would have saved $5K. However, I really wanted one and it was well worth it!
- Pool, actual | $62,400
- Gas | $5,000
- Electrical | $6,000
- Boulders, Landscaping – $14,580
- Floral, additional Landscaping – $25,000
- Concrete | $16,800
- Pool and Deck Patio | $12,200
- Stone Steps | $4,600
- Misc Pump Truck Fees
And if you’re looking to find out more about the pool process, we shared that in a blog post here.
Reference Links
Umbrellas | Fire Pit Table | Pool Contractor | Rock Landscaper | Concrete Contractor | All Furniture – Thrifted from Open Box |
[…] much we’ve done to this view right here over the last couple of years! So much has changed. An in-ground pool, sport court, and fireplace and lounging area now take over this same view. And although we started […]