Natural stone is a luxury material that imparts beauty with gradients of color. Contractors use different natural stones for pool design, including limestone, bluestone, slate, and granite. They can also use faux rock, which does an excellent job of mimicking natural stone without the hassles and expense of larger rock installations.
Stone accenting, decking, and other uses make sense for specific styles, such as a lagoon. However, you can incorporate this beautiful material into many design styles.
Limestone Decking
Limestone is a surprisingly durable stone that builders often turn to. The stone is typically lighter in color and comes in shade ranges from light tan to soft green. Therefore, when contractors use it for pool decking, it shows as a bright highlight around your blue pool, which makes the water stand out.
Limestone works well for modern styles because of its minimalist light shade range. What’s more, in making the pool water stand out, the decking emphasizes the shape, which is a modernist ideal. That said, a limestone deck would be a beautiful complement for classical style pools as well.
Geometric Stone Entryway
Natural stone is a beautiful material for accenting your pool, too. So, even if you choose a different material for the decking, you can use stone pavers to highlight certain areas. Use natural stone for accenting your entryway, especially if you choose one of the more gradual styles.
To that end, choose rocks that feature deeper colors with greater gradients, such as slate or granite. While you could choose pavers left in their natural shape, consider instead those cut into geometric shapes. When the contractors mortar them, they’ll make a sleek complement to your pool entry. This style is another idea for using stone in contemporary styles.
River Rock Coping
What’s more natural than using rocks that came from water in the design of a water feature? River rocks are a popular building material because the flow of water over the stone has made the surface smooth, which takes the buffing process out of the equation. However, the smooth surface wouldn’t be ideal for decking because it might become slippery.
The smooth surface does make river rock ideal for pool coping, though – you don’t want to rub against something rough. What’s more, river rock comes in variations of color, shape, and size. Therefore, using it for coping brings a pop of visual interest to your pool design. This natural stone is suitable for rustic and naturalistic pool designs.
Natural-Stone Waterfall
A classic addition to a lagoon style swimming pool is the stone waterfall. These installations aim to replicate a pile of rocks with a waterfall flowing over them into the swimming pool. However, sometimes designers add design elements such as lighting or a slide. They also often incorporate landscaping to make the waterfall appear more natural.
A stone waterfall requires the usage of very large rocks to build the structure up enough for the cascade. While you can use natural boulders, the process is unwieldy, and you’re limited in shapes. This is one area where designers often suggest using faux rock. In that way, they can sculpt the installation on-site to the desired specifications. The end result is very naturalistic.
Boulder Accent Feature
You can use boulders in your swimming pool design. You’re just better off if you use them as solitary accent pieces rather than as part of a larger whole. That way you can also incorporate them into more contemporary designs.
For instance, you could set a boulder up near the pool and highlight it with the same material used in your coping. You could also set a boulder up in the middle of a geometric planter with landscaping around it. Either of those accent features could protrude into the pool to create a design connection.
Let the natural beauty of stone complement your pool design. Talk to Athens Pool & Spa about the best way to incorporate natural stone into your swimming pool.
