That's wonderful. Your yard is a wonderful backdrop for the style of the pool and you have a great view, too. Keep the pictures coming now that you know how. Sorry about the rain. It's really frustrating, I know -- we all know.

Thanks Waterbaby. I feel bad complaining about the rain. It delays my pool, but at least my house isn't sinking or flooding and I'm not in danger of mudslides. Just a little muddy and since we have two new puppies alot of that mud ends up in my house! Oh well. It's a good problem to have:)

Say Padrefan, what part of Southern California do you live in? I'm in San Diego and the rain has been a real drag.

Padrefan: Aren't you also in SD County? Escondido maybe (from your views)?? BEAUTIFUL photos! All that agonizing is paying off--the tile and coping look great together! What are your pool specs again?

Okay...you told us you have puppies...WHERE ARE THE PUPPY/POOL PHOTOS?!? (Sorry for shouting!) :D

-Melissa

Oh, Melissa, you asked for it. Nothing like a new puppy owner wanting to show off her babies. We are in Murrieta. Just moved from Virginia in July. I thought it never rained in California. At least that's what the song says.
The pool is 40'x17' and is 31/2' to 8' deep. The spa is approx. 9'x7'. The rain has been a drag, but as I said it could be alot worse.

I'd be happy to take some of your rain--we haven't had rain in weeks here in Fl---of course not--I just got $1800 worth of sod laid so now I am watering constantly and it is still turning brown in spots :(

And I'd be happy to share. Isn't that how it always is? I'm sure when it's time to start landscaping we'll have dry, hot weather. When we lived back east and my kids wanted a snow day they'd put their p.j.s on inside out and do a "snow dance". Maybe it will work for rain? If you try it please post pictures!:)

Padrefan~

Great pool and puppy pictures! Can you tell me what tile you used?

Thanks!
Janet

Janet,
I'm not sure I'll spell it right, but the name of the tile is Oxidiana and according to my tile addendum the brand is INTL (International?) We liked the dark gray color and the fact that it sort of looked like stone. Hope that helps. Are you looking at tile and coping choices?
Carol

padrefan: WONDERFUL puppy photos! I love the last one. They look like they want to come to the edge to play w/you, but aren't quite sure what Mom's doing in that big, deep hole.

Well...if you moved last July to Murrieta, you got to experience some of the heat. Give it some time...it will be here again soon!

-Melissa

Carol,

I am just beginning the process and we are looking at tiles and coping. I love yours! What finish will you use for the pool bottom? We are looking at Hydrazzo. Do you or anyone know anything about Hydrazzo? Keep the pictures coming... they look great!

Nice job on the design, tile and coping choices. You're pool is going to look great!

The puppies are so cute! Know that you will enjoy them as well as the pool!
The pool looks terrific! Love the tile! Do keep us posted with new photos of pool and puppies!
Gayle

How far beyond the trees does your property go? It looks like the trees behind the pool to the left make a really cool "secret cave." What a great piece of property! Hope you like landscaping!!

Hi Soggy. We are on an acre. The land behind the pool is probably 1/2 an acre and is all Olive trees. Very cool play area for the kids and dogs. We love it here, but we're a little nervous about landscaping around the pool. I don't exactly have a green thumb but enjoy trying. Any suggestions on plants, etc are more than welcome.

I really like the choice of flagstone. What's it called? I like the natural edge of the coping. It doesn't look saw cut. Did they chip it by hand? It looks like a real quality job. Congrats.

joeed -
Thanks! The flagstone is called Idaho Silver and the coping is called Tumbled silver. It's a tumbled (obviously) flagstone so they only saw cut the side away from the pool where it will meet with the decking. We were a little concerned it may be pretty rough on the kids getting in and out, but it's fairly smooth and I'm hoping my kids are old enough (9 & 12) to figure out that if they get scraped up they'll be more careful next time:)

I went back to look at your pool again. It's really amazing. You have a lifestyle I could get used to! Do you have any updated pictures? What did you decide on the Pebblefina? There's been no progress on our pool in quite sometime due to rain, so I'd love to see any new pictures you have.

Great pics - your yard is awesome - I LOVE the location. Do you have nobody behind you? What is your location - cul-de-sac at the top of a hill?? Nice size yard - what are the home prices where you are?
Thanks for sharing -

BooBoo

Hi Boo. Thanks. We are on a culdesac and sort of near the top of a hill. We have neighbors behind us, but there's a virtual olive grove between our house and theirs, so we have alot of privacy. We love it. Home prices are high (it is So. Cal afterall) but we were lucky to have held on to our old house in San Diego that we'd owned since '91. Selling that made it possible to buy something bigger up here in Murrieta.

I really hope you don't have allergies cause the olive trees put out a very high count of pollen. Here is Las Vegas you are not allowed to plant them as they have been banned, only ones that were growing are allowed to stay

Oh Great! Didn't bother us last year, but then again we didn't move in until July. No way we can get rid of them. There's probably about 65 or so. Yikes.

Progress! They were here over the weekend finishing stone work and forms for the concrete. Think they'll pour Monday or Tuesday. NO RAIN, PLEASE.

Padrefan,

Wow...your pool and yard are looking awesome. It is a great shape in a great setting. Sounds like things are starting to move along nicely. Your dogs are definitely going to like it.

Keep us posted...

Rob

Looks wonderful! Everything around the pool looks like it has never been touched! Someone has done a great job! From your home you must have some beautiful views of the pool!
Congratulations!
....more photos please!
Gayle

Wow, it's really looking great. I love your puppies. They look very comfortable with all the activity and the one seems to have picked out his/her spot! Of course it's right in the middle so you'll have to step around.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you for good weather so you can keep moving.

Thanks guys.

Rwest....things are starting to progress. Thank goodness. I have to tell you, when I showed your pool to my kids they got so mad at me for not getting a slide. Thanks alot!

Waterbaby...the weather looks beautiful for the next week or so (fingers crossed). How are things in PA? Your right about the dog. She loves sitting on those steps. She thinks she's the queen. The other one doesn't dare try to pass her or there's sure to be an attack.

Breath of spring today -- but the rain's moving in tonight which will turn to wet snow by the end of Tuesday and then the temps plummet back down to the 30s for the rest of the week with snow here and there. Big sigh! Thanks for asking. I'll survive, I have your pics to look at to think about what's not that far off.

After telling jewbank where my pics were in the gallery I realized I hadn't posted any of the finished pool! These aren't the most recent...we do have some landscaping done since these were taken, but you get the idea.

It was funny. This is the second house I was looking at thinking "I know where that is!" We live by you Santa Rosa P. It looks like you used Pebble Sheen. What color did you use?

HI! We have Prism Blue and love it. We also love Santa rosa P. Where are you located? and what is your pool situation (planning, building, built?) Any pictures? It's funny how many people from this area post to this forum.

We are over in the Sycamore Ranch Dev. We actually over look the creek and have a great view of the valley. I use Santa Rosa as a land mark. Seems like everyone knows where that is located!

We are at the plumbing stage. We do have some pictures but since I just located this site, I have not been able to post yet. I will try and get them on this weekend. We are currently trying to decide which Sheen to use. Our builder (sure you have heard of him Custom Pools and Masonry) suggested the Blue Granite. We are trying to find pools to look at with either Ocean Blue, Blue Granite or Prism Blue. Have you had any problems with the shells?

So far no problems with shells, but the pool's only been done for a little over a month. Right now the shells are really pretty. Time will tell. Blue Granite was our second choice. I saw a few pools with it and only one with the Prism Blue. If you're interested in seeing ours, let me know via email. Happy to show you. I would have loved to see as many as possible. When is your gunite scheduled? That was the BEST day of the build!

Hey Padre Fan,

Gotta love those Padres. They have been amazing this month. Hope they can keep it up. We went to all the playoff games in '98 and I would love to do that again this year. Anyway, I noticed in your pictures you have an outside heater. I am thinking about getting one but was wondering if it really keeps an area warm or if it only works if you stand right next to it. My pool is new and I want to spend as much time as I can outside (with the game playing on the radio, of course) but I get cold in the early evening and want to buy a heater, but my husband thinks they will probably just keep the feet warm if you are right next to it. What do you think? Thanks for the info.

Shelly

Shelly,
We were there in '98 also. Perhaps the most fun I've ever had. They have been AMAZING!
As far as the heater...I do like ours (Sam's Club) and it does give off heat, but you do have to be pretty close. I usually have my chair right under it and it definitely makes a difference. Also, we've put it up near our outdoor table when we want to eat outside and it helps. Now, of course, it depends how cold it is and if there's any wind. Also I'm sure there are better ones for more $$ than ours.
Just a side note... my husband who has very little hair left (sorry honey) sometimes has to wear a hat when he's too close to it or his head gets too hot!

Carol

Do you have any new pics with landscaping? Your thread was getting close to never-never land and I didn't want to see it lost. It's too bad that the gallery isn't 10 pages long, we already lost some good threads. Maybe if we keep bumping up the real gallery threads than the mistake threads will fall off instead of the pictures.
-Alison
P.S. I just love your pool, I had a thing against flagstone until I saw your pool. I have a soft spot for greys and blues and the flagstone you have is beautiful.

Alison,
Thanks for saving me from the abyss! It would be nice if the gallery had more pages. I took some new pictures, but it's pretty hazy out there today. Not sure how they'll come across. I'll be looking for updates of your pool as well. I love how you incorporated your cover. Excellent!

Here is a link that might be useful: Padrefan's pool

Carol,

I just love your pool every time I see it. I'm glad Alison bumped you up so I can look at it again. I love the new photos. The water color looks different in every picture. Very Cool!

GO PADRES (They had a great week, didn't they) :)

Any more pictures of your beautiful pool? We are deciding on pebble color and Prism Blue is our favorite so far.
Are the pictures accurate? It seems that when I see a pool "live" it looks different than the picture. For example, I just saw a Blue Granite pool and it appeared greener than I thought it would be.
Would love to see more pictures.

Thanks!!!!

visina...I really don't have anymore recent pictures and today is very cloudy so probably can't get any good ones right now. I can tell you that on my monitor, when I look at my pictures the color looks just like it does in real life, minus the sparkles from the shells. Can't be sure how the pics show up on your computer, though. Have you been able to see any prism blue pools? Some people on this forum who have prism blue say they have some greenish blue to it, but I can asure you that ours doesn't look green...ever. So maybe it depends on the trees and plants around their pools? Anyway, we are very happy with the color. If I get a chance tomorrow I'll try to get some other pictures.

Padrefan...Thanks so much for all your feedback. I have seen one pool with Prism Blue but it seemed darker and definately greener than I thought it would be. Perhaps their chemicals were off. Denise from Pebble Tec assures me that Prism Blue is a very crisp blue...her friend has this finish and Denise says she has never seen it green. I would love to see recent pictures if possible.

Thanks again!!!!

visina...here are some pics I took today. Not sure they look any different than the others, but hope they help. Again, not sure how they look on your monitor, but a "crisp blue" is a good description. You should be able to click on individual pics to enlarge. Good luck with your decision.
Carol

Your pool color is absolutely what I am looking for! Decision made!!!!! Thank you.

Bumping up.
Your pool and landscaping have come along beautifully!!! Living in Georgia now and this makes me miss being in Oceanside!!

Ahh, thanks garden graphic gal...

The landscaping looks better than it did in those early pictures, but still has a ways to go. Maybe you should move back to So Cal and you can make mine look as beautiful as yours. I haven't been able to convince my husband we should hire someone to landscape...he thinks we can do it on our own. Of course he's unable to convince me that we need a 1971 Dodge Challenger.