For this project, Gary Phelps and Fred Butler had to contend with an original elevation drop of 22 feet from the lowest level of the three-story home to the pool area below.
Complex construction
For this project, Gary Phelps and Fred Butler had to contend with an original elevation drop of 22 feet from the lowest level of the three-story home to the pool area below.
“It was a very narrow backyard with a steep slope,” Phelps explains. “So either you were on the second or third floor of the house looking down at the pool, or you were at the pool level looking out — the way it fell off — almost into oblivion. There were subtle tree lines and nice views, but afar.”
So fill was brought in and compacted, and the pool area was raised to about 6 feet below the walk-out level; the catch basin and equipment areas then were elevated to 14 feet below the walk-out point.
Harmonizing materials
The homeowners wanted to carry the faux stone-faced theme of the house into the aquascape. “But they didn’t want to use the same materials because, quite frankly, there was just a lot of it,” Butler says. Nor did they want the spa or pool decks to be stamped concrete.
So Butler selected a man-made cast product called Hart Stone, and used 18-inch squares on the spa deck, catch basin and fire pit, while placing larger stones — all configured diagonally to the house — for the pool deck. Natural stone was used for the walls of the equipment room, around the spa, and below the weir of the vanishing edge.
Texture and palette
Approximately 150 tons of boulders were brought in and used for the waterfeature, retainer walls and steps. “It’s what’s referred to as floaters — surface rock that’s been wind-shaped or water-shaped so you don’t get a lot of raw or rough edges,” Butler says. The boulders carry throughout the project, accenting either side of the catch basin and forming the steps that lead to the lower deck level.
Despite limited green space to work with, Phelps sought to temper the hardscape and boulder work. “We used some queen palms as annuals, and added a fair amount of ornamental grasses too,” he says. “As a backdrop behind the slide and waterfeature, we used some fairly sizable evergreens to tie it all together.”
