Neighborhood Iconoclast
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Eric Norris, Design Consultant/Sales
Albert Kleinman, Project Manager
Mike Eastes, Construction Manager
Shelby Ternan, Director of Construction Services
Riverbend Sandler Pools
Plano, Texas
"Neighborhood Iconoclast"
Eric Norris, Design Consultant/Sales
Albert Kleinman, Project Manageritle
Mike Eastes, Construction Manager
Shelby Ternan, Director of Construction Services
Riverbend Sandler Pools
Plano, Texas
These homeowners were used to blazing their own path through life. They weren’t going to change that approach when it came to the design of their pool and backyard.
The couple had purchased the Dallas-area property and promptly knocked down the 1980s-era home that came with it, erecting a modern abode that would stand out among the sea of ranch-style units.
“He said, ‘I don’t want [the backyard] to look like it belongs in the neighborhood,’” says Eric Norris, a design consultant with Riverbend Sandler Pools in Plano, Texas. “I knew I had just broken off something that would turn into one heck of a project.”
They collaborated more closely with Norris than just about any client he’d worked with before, introducing new ideas and making modifications thorughout the process, sometimes undoing decisions they thought they were well past.
And the mantra throughout: “I want something I’ve never seen.”
Fortunately, there was a lot of joking and deadline flexibility.
“We had a lot of fun with this,” Norris says.
The pool, with its modern styling, striking raised spa, steel and cedar poolside bar, and a series of unique add-ons shows the byproduct of the best kinds of collaboration.
Give and take
One of the biggest eyecatchers on the project came from the client.
She had rejected everything that she’d seen up to that point. “She’d say, ‘No, I’ve seen all these before,’” Norris remembers.
Eventually she found the right, intricately patterned tile. While Norris resisted at first, the 3D renderings warmed him to the idea. Then the finished product completely sold him.
In part, Norris thought it worked because of the painted white brick used on parts of the backyard. The more traditional material, which had been used on other areas of the home, could help bridge the tile with the sleeker white marble and ipe wood surfaces nearby.
The intricate pattern formed by the tile makes the raised spa pop. The spanning white marble steps leading from the upper level to spa level further showcase the hot-water vessel. To avoid a monolithic look of straight steps, Norris angled them gradually toward the spa, forming something of a pyramid.
To the side of the pool sits the main entertaining area — a covered patio complete with two kegerators, a sink, ice maker, dishwasher, and a glass washer like those used in restaurants and commercial bars. That addition also came at the clients’ behest. “That was probably the quirkiest thing we added,” Norris says.
Housing all this is a stainless steel structure. Here again, Norris received marching orders to create something unique, so he designed the structure of stainless steel I-beams as an alternative to the A-framed, cedar tongue-and-groove patio covers typical to the area. White cedar lines the inside for a warm contrast to the black beams and accents. A large-screen TV is recessed into the cedar to maintain a sleek look.
Another of the pair’s last-minute additions? A shuffleboard court set to the side.
As much as the final product, Norris enjoyed the process.
“I don’t want it to be something where they just walk out and go, ‘All this was done for us,’” he says. “That’s cool for me as a designer, if I can take all the credit. But if they’ve got pieces they own, it ties it to them, and there’s a lot more sense of pride in it.”
SUPPLIERS:
Pump/filter/heater/controller/lights: Jandy
Chemical feeder: Aquastar
Tile: Miami Patterns Star Porcelain Pool Tile
Coping: Travertine
Deck finishes: Sky White Travertine/Marble Pavers, Ipe
Interior finish: French Gray Stonescapes
Fire feature: Stahl
Automatic cleaner: Pentair
Spa components: Polaris, Aquastar
Drain covers/fittings/skimmers: Aquastar
Fencing: Plexiglass, Red Cedar
Outdoor elements: Frontgate, Bull, Kegerator
