When a mid-sized backyard sports an 18-foot by 36-foot kidney-shaped inground swimming pool, a sharp-looking corner gazebo, a stamped-concrete pool surround and classy custom landscaping, you'd be forgiven if you feel like you're poolside at a posh luxury resort.
To think, only two months earlier, this backyard in the heart of southeast Winnipeg was a simple (albeit pleasant) expanse of well-manicured grass surrounded by cedar fencing.
"It was a four-week project from start to finish," says Krevco's Paul Walker, who has installed more than 350 inground pools for the company over the past eight years.
"We started at the end of May and finished at the end of June. That said, I actually started working with my client back in around February or March. You have to do it to get all the details just right."
Walker says the key to getting the dimensions of the project's key components -- the pool, gazebo and stamped-concrete pool surround -- was to physically paint out where they would go.
"Doing that helps get all the different elements in front of the customer on the proper scale. I've found that with 3-D imaging software, the components always tend to come out bigger or smaller than they actually turn out to be in real life," he explains, adding that the project constitutes Krevco's average-priced backyard retreat package.
"When you do it physically, you get a better feel for the size of the pool and the walkway around it. That way, there are no surprises."
Once all the details are finalized, it's then time to take the project from blueprint status into full-out, 3-D reality. In this case, everything worked out perfectly: the grey-hued cedar gazebo looks like it has inhabited its corner of the yard for years, while the pool is just the right size.
Any bigger, and its presence would be overbearing. If it were any smaller, it might look more like an ornament. Neither is remotely the case: it's a place where you can choose between swimming a casual lap or two or simply lounging in the shallows of a sun ledge found on the pool's far side.
"These days, more and more people are going with dedicated sun ledges, a spot where you have the ability to get wet, cool off and read a book -- all without having to go into the pool," Walker says.
"The sun ledge here features a grey granite look, as do the steps leading in and out of the pool. The cedar gazebo was then painted grey to tie in with the colours."
Meanwhile, a somewhat innocuous feature found on the far right hand-side of the pool turns out to be a real show stealer.
"We put a small cluster of acrylic fibreglass rock there, in a spot that has access to underground plumbing," he says. "All you have to do is throw a switch, and water runs over the rocks and into the pool to give you a nice background noise that brings entertaining or relaxing to another level. It really looks and sounds great."
Add in the trees, shrubs and crushed rock that have been placed in just the right spots throughout the yard (by Three Seasons Landscaping), together with a pre-existing deck, and the result is a backyard that has been transformed from ordinary to extraordinary, adds Walker.
"It's definitely a detailed process, but all the planning is worth it. Our customer is just loving her new backyard, and is happy we took our time to work with her to get things right. Now, she's added value to her home and has a backyard that she can enjoy for years to come."
