Poolgress report...

Once upon a time, there was a family that had the brilliant idea to buy an older house and "make it theirs." They had attempted such a task once before, and having had to address multiple foundational issues on a house they thought needed "only a few cosmetic tweaks," they really should have known better.

But, oh, the size of the lot, the ridiculously cheap price per square foot, the fact that the previous owners had already done the messy work of smoothing the ceilings and replacing/refinishing the hardwoods, the location, and the overriding "P-word" (potential), all these things came together in a force that caused the family to abandon all common sense and buy the house anyway.

Among MANY updates the family undertook in the first three years was the update of the pool area. (Side note: It is true. A pool really is the land-equivalent of a boat: a hole in the ground into which you pour money.)

Below is a lovely photographic essay of the family's pool-ventures so far.

First appearing is the pool during the first season the family owned the house. Why the previous owners built a pool in the woods, the family never discovered. Freeing it from the deciduous forest became the primary goal. Freeing it from early-stockade decorating style ran a close second.

First went a few trees. Then went the stockade fence.

See? Pool stockade in the woods....

And then AFTER the removal of a few oak trees and the stockade fence.
(Never fear, tree-hugging friends, there are PLENTY of oaks remaining to drop their acorns and clog the pool filter.)

The shallow end of the pool BEFORE...
(Can't see it, can you? It's because of the inordinate number of oak trees.)

Oops... the family neglected to get a good shot of the actual shallow end of the pool AFTER, but here's a lovely shot of the new fire-bowl seating area. The Man of the House replaced the wooden landscape timbers with blocks. The old landscape timbers are outside the new fence. See? They're still there because MOTH will repurpose them as part of a retaining wall on the deep end of the pool.

And here is said deep end of the pool BEFORE...

And here is the deep end of the pool AFTER. See how the new black fence allows the family to enjoy the remaining good trees that are far enough away not to drop leaves, twigs, acorns, ants, and spiders into the pool? Ah, living in harmony with nature.

Here is the view of the pool entrance area BEFORE:
(This view makes the Woman of the House twitchy because she knows they are going to have to replace the lovely circa 1984 Masonite class-action-lawsuit siding with Hardiplank siding in the not-so-distant future.)
*WOTH bangs head against laptop keyboalsjfkdh.*

And here is the thus-far-completed portion of the pool entrance now. Block on the left. Wood on the right. The family undertook this DIY project over Memorial Day Weekend. After that, going to the beach seemed a lot more fun that hauling landscape block in 100+ degree heat. So... instead of AFTER, here is SO-FAR:

If you live near the family, they cordially invite you to come for a swim. When you arrive, please grab a couple of landscape blocks (sitting behind the dump-truck load of dirt resting next to the circular drive in the front yard) and place them neatly in the pile on the landing outside the lower pool gate.

Thanks!