BEAUTIFUL BACKYARD POOL DECOR IDEAS + A PEEK AT OUR NEW POOL DESIGN!
I’m so excited that summer is almost here! It’s hands-down our favorite time of year. Since our season is so short where we live, we can really only enjoy the warm temperatures from May to September, and a little bit in October too. I’ve teased here and there in some recent posts about our new in-ground pool – today you’ll get a peek at some progress shots from last fall when we started the process. Now that spring is here, we’ve been working very hard getting everything finished and I can’t wait to share the full reveal with you. For now, I’ve rounded up some beautiful backyard pool decor – some is our existing decor, some is new decor that you’ll see grace our pool deck, and a few extras I’m eyeing for later!
You can shop more backyard pool decor picks in my Amazon storefront as well, if you’d like to. For my Canadian friends, my Amazon Canada storefront is finally being updated! Feel free to browse some of my favorite picks and patio decor too.
We’ll also take a trip down memory lane and have a look at our backyard through the years. I hope this inspires you for summer and helps get you started for backyard decorating…enjoy!
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BACKYARD POOL & PATIO DECOR IDEAS
We are so excited to get our outdoor space and new pool fully setup for summer and I especially can’t wait to finish styling our backyard pool decor.
We tried our very best to be budget conscious when planing our new pool, and fortunately, we have many existing furniture pieces we still love and that are still in great condition, but we still needed to buy a few new items as well.
I’ve linked everything (some items are similar or on our wish list) throughout this post to shop.
SHOP POOL + PATIO
Wingback chair | Daybed | Blue block print pillows | Lumbar pillows | Blue + white garden stool | Elephant side table | Large ginger jar | Planter | Blue Turkish towel | Striped Turkish towel | Pool float | Patio umbrella | Umbrella stand | Lounger | Block print pillow | Garden stool
One of our favorite existing furniture pieces is our navy daybed (pictured below), that we featured in our patio update a few years ago.
The navy fabric has faded over the years, but nothing some gorgeous throw pillows can’t hide. If it continues to fade, I may have it recovered, since it is such a beautiful piece.
I first featured our daybed with these beautiful pillows I had found – the look was exactly what I wanted. Unfortunately, they couldn’t withstand the elements and some of them faded quite a lot.
I’m so happy to finally have durable new pillows from Cailini Coastal that are for outdoor use, and I know will last for years. Their chic block print design are perfect for our outdoor space and the look I was after. I’ve paired them up with these beautiful greek key pillow covers that we already have and the look is perfect. You can shop them all below.
SHOP OUR NEW PILLOWS
We bought four of these new loungers and two patio umbrellas – both of which are so chic and very affordable. Oh and lots of cute pool towels from this Etsy shop!
WOVEN LOUNGER
We bought four of these beauties and love them!
Our loungers are only available from Amazon Canada, but I also found these gorgeous loungers that have a similar look, but are a bigger investment. These beautiful loungers also have a similar look, and are a great price.
PATIO UMBRELLA
We bought two of these très chic umbrellas!
I can’t tell you enough how much I love our new patio umbrellas, which add so much chic style to our pool deck. I wasn’t sure if I would be happy with the quality, but for the price I can honestly say they’re just gorgeous and are so much more beautiful in person.
UMBRELLA STAND
This base is 26.5 lbs and was the best bang for our buck!
Finding an umbrella base that is sturdy, beautiful and affordable was a little tricky. I wanted white ones to coordinate with our decor and found these pretty bases that are also even nicer in person. I would have preferred a more simple design, but these ones fit our budget and they look fabulous.
SHOP MORE PATIO DECOR BELOW!
Create a chic look in your yard with these gorgeous pieces!
NEW POOL DESIGN DRAWINGS
Here are the drawings for our pool design, these were drawn up from the designer at the pool company we used. We had many limitations on our property which created a ton of challenges – our septic tank and system on the side yard, the very sloped grading of our lot, many of mature trees that we didn’t want to cut down, and our existing patio, which we wanted to leave in tact.
All of these things, along with our budget, determined our pool size (it’s on the small size at 10 x 20) and placement, and didn’t leave us with many options. We installed our new pool to the right side of our patio (facing out from the house), which we now use only for our dining table and fireplace. We left our lounging area in our gazebo where it was before as well.
We also have to fence the entire pool by law here where we live, so what you see in the drawings as a glass fence, is a black steel fence in real life. It must be a certain distance from the house and also has a lot of limitations.
We’ve definitely learned that building a pool is an intensive and expensive project with so many details that need to be meticulously dealt with. We were very mindful of keeping a minimal budget (with some small extras thrown in!), and even at that it gets costly.
We kept it all as simple as we could so we wouldn’t overspend – and even then you end up spending more. There were many unforeseen expenses in the building process that we only realized as we moved along. Definitely make sure to budget 10-20% over! Overall, we still came relatively close to our budget.
OUR IN-GROUND POOL PROGRESS: THE BEFORE + DURING
You can see where we had to cut two trees to make way for the pool. They were huge, beautiful pines. It was a little sad seeing them go, but we had no choice. Beyond the trees in the flat area is our septic field, which determines the limit of where the edge of our pool deck can be.
We still have so many things to do! Here’s a peek at last year’s progress to give you an idea of what we’ve been working on.
Although our new pool is now complete, we’re still working on all finishing touches and details. You’ll have to wait a little longer for the full reveal while we finish up our yard, but it is almost done!
It comes with a ton of hard work. Here’s everything we’re working on:
- A cedar hedge for privacy
- Redoing parts of the lawn that got damaged from the build and winter
- Planting flowers and greenery
- A fence to hide the pool equipment
- Privacy plants for the driveway
- Lighting
- Hardscaping – the finishing details
- Decorating and styling, of course!
OUR BACKYARD AND DECOR THROUGH THE YEARS
Our backyard has come a long way over the thirteen years that we’ve lived in our home. What started out as a temporary ‘new build flip’ in 2010, has turned into a much longer stay.
We had big plans to keep building and flipping until we built our dream home, but we fell in love with the area we live in and well, here we still are today.
All these years later, even though this is not our forever home (not yet anyway!), we’ve tried to make it our own and create a sanctuary for our family.
It’s so exciting to see the transformation take place in our backyard and while it may not be perfect, or everything we’ve always wanted, it is perfect for right now while we’re still here.
Hopefully, our teenage kids will love to stick around here – which is one of the main reasons we decided to take the plunge and build our pool.
We’ve gotten everything close to being finished with our backyard pool decor and we’ve already been able to enjoy a few beautiful days poolside since we opened it a few weeks ago. It is such a relaxing retreat to be in. I’m working outside by the pool on our new lounger, typing this as we speak! Stay tuned for the full pool reveal, it is coming soon…we’re almost at the finish line and I can’t wait to share it all! xo
Hi, we did not have to move anything, we built everything around it. I hope you don’t have to spend too much!
We too need to move drainage fields for our pool. What was the cost of that fire you guys?