Tropical swimming pools are one of the most popular styles for homeowners. Tropical style pools remind you of your favorite beach resort - or the one you're dreaming about. Even within the tropical theme, you have many options of how to style your pool, ranging from a lagoon to an upscale getaway.
Generally speaking, all tropical swimming pools feature a water feature, either a fountain or waterfall. Create your own slice of paradise in your backyard with a tropical pool featuring a beautiful water feature.
Decide on a Tropical Style
If you're renovating an existing pool or starting from scratch, you'll first have to settle on the tropical theme that most speaks to you. With lagoon pools, the goal is to recreate a private natural pool. Therefore, you'll likely want a naturalistic waterfall for your pool.
Sometimes a tropical pool is meant to look a little more tamed than a natural pool. This style can look like a resort recreating that tropical style. In that case, landscaping may be more manicured, and you may add cabanas. A naturalistic waterfall can work here, too. However, you might consider a naturalistic fountain.
Upscale tropical resorts often combine a modern aesthetic with the tropical style. The pool may be geometric and feature a glittering blue liner with a few targeted plantings around. You might expect to see a lot of tile work and natural stone in the construction. For this style of the tropics, a chic waterfall or fountain is ideal.
Choose a Material
Your decision on the tropical style of your swimming pool will help you choose a material for your water feature. So, let's say you're recreating a pool from a chic resort. You'll probably have stone and tile picked out for your pool decking and coping. Use one of those materials as an extension of the decking or coping to create your water feature.
Waterfalls and fountains made of natural-looking stones are very popular for tropical pools. Typically, a pool designer chooses a naturally elevated area of the pool and further builds it up with stones. The water mechanism runs through the elevated rocks and creates the fall of water.
While natural stones can work for this style of water feature,
Luxury Pools recommends considering faux rock. The natural rocks needed to create a waterfall will be big - and therefore very heavy. As the site points out, faux rocks are lighter and easier to work with. What's more, you can have them tailored to meet the needs of your water feature.
Design your Water Feature
Once you've chosen the style of your tropical pool and the material for your water feature, it's time to design what it will look like. Naturally, your pool designer will have advice. However, you should be ready with some input.
For example, if you're going for a naturalistic waterfall, you'll want to decide on its height. If you make it high enough, you might even incorporate a grotto behind the fall of water. Likewise, such waterfalls look more natural if you incorporate some landscaping. Palm trees are typical for tropical pools, but you might look at smaller plants for the waterfall.
If you're recreating any kind of tropical resort pool, you may consider incorporating your waterfall with another feature. For instance, many homeowners include a spa - you could have the water spill over the edge.
For a modern take on the tropical pool, consider a fountain instead of a waterfall. Perhaps you could choose a receptacle made out of the tile in your coping. The water can spray from this receptacle into the pool.
Adding a water feature such as a fountain or waterfall increases the beauty of your swimming pool. Consult with the design experts at
Sequoyah Pools for more ideas on how to incorporate a water feature into your tropical pool design.
