Hi Coastaljewel, First, congratulation on getting a pool. You will love it no matter what! We are in the process of building our pool in San Antonio,TX. We were also concerned with the price or staying within our budget. Wish I would have spent more time or research in the "little things" The big ticket items will take of themselves. We totally forgot about lighting. Yes, we have a light in the pool and spa, but no outdoor lighting around the pool. I wish I had more holes for umbrellas. They did asks when doing the shotcret and I said one was enough. What was I thinking! Hard to make decisions while they are standing there waiting for an answer. Post some before pics and maybe some members will offer up some ideas. Also try Houzz.com Hope this helps.

Congrats on your build.

The fancy lights were a waste of money for us. My pebblesheen (Blue Granite) looks awful, imo, with the purple, pink, red, green (gasp!) lights on. The only color light I like is white. Or blue is dramatic. But all the others look tacky to my eye. The bubblers on the shelf are awesome and relaxing, we hate the deck jets. Loud and annoying. They totally ruin my zen. LOL. We had a lot of umbrella holes around our old pool and didn't do them with the new pool. Look at Costco's website and search 'Shademobile'. It's a rolling umbrella base that moves your umbrella to where the sun is. We've collected six of them over the years and they're worth every penny. I thought the umbrella holes were unsightly and made the umbrellas nearly poke us in the eyes because they have to sit so low in the holes.

A white finish of any kind was not an option for us. I'm way too picky about how clean the bottom of the pool looks and white shows everything. Truth be told, I've not seen the white pearl you mentioned I love the water color of a blue/gray bottomed pool and it hides sand and other little things until I'm able to vacuum or throw the bot in.

I'd splurge on beautiful tile and finish, Shademobiles and comfy seating around the pool. While we did a large pool this time, next one (retirement pool) will be 10x20ish with higher end finishes and a more classic design.