Whether you’re planning to build a new pool or looking to upgrade, having a vision for your personal pool design can be challenging. From uncertainty about trends, colors, and layout to quality materials and pool liners, knowing where to start can feel a little daunting. With options like fresh water pools or salt water pools, picking the right pumps, pool heaters, flag stone, pool copings, or spa copings can pose a challenge for your pool’s construction. Here at STONEarch, we’re shining a light on the latest trends in swimming pool design, and what we can offer to bring your dreams into reality. So let’s get started;

1. Dark Pool Liners with Earthy Coloured Decking

Standing in the number one spot in this coming season’s top pool design trends are dark pool liners. Dark colours for pool walls and liners simulate the serene look of natural bodies of water in your backyard landscape. It gives the illusion of depth and absorbs more of the sun’s heat – a natural source for pool heating providing a comfortable temperature to swim in. Cap off your gorgeous pool deck with STONEarch’s warm and earthy-color natural stones for your pool copings such as Flint, Lavender, Slate Gray or Saga. Use the same earthy tone flagstones to create the maintenance-free and sandy-looking pool deck of your dreams. Using the same colour stone as your pool copings and pool decking creates vastness to the area and gives a welcome theme to the whole project.

2. Sun Shelves

If you haven’t heard of them sun shelves are flat shallow ledges along a pool’s interior side. These are also known as tanning ledges or Baja shelves. Sun shelves are ideal for parents to lounge on while young children play around the pool deck.  You can relax on the ledge itself while partially immersed or set up lounging chairs on the ledge so that only your feet get wet. These shelves look excellent in kidney shaped pools and rectangular pools. Either choice will make your backyard look like a true oasis, adding to the relaxation and comfort that you’re seeking. For a more natural look try STONEarch’ range of natural stone such as Dove, Black, or Fossil or try something more sophisticated and modern like Silver Valley Limestone, New Ebony Granite, Alicante Black Granite or Gray Mix Travertine Stone.

3. Country or Contemporary Style Pool

Country Style Pool or Contemporary Style Pools – both offer a relaxing environment, and when these designs are tied up with landscaping elements that follows theme the overall feel of the design is enhanced tenfold. However, landscaping with clean straight lines along with rectangular pools is becoming trendier as kidney shaped pools become a thing of the past.

Natural stone adds another dimension to the richness of your backyard allowing you to stay in touch with nature. Rock waterfalls, stone fountains, and customized garden ornaments add your signature to your customized outdoor living space. Natural boulders, armor rock, or random flagstone can give a more rustic look and can help you create a country style backyard. Or you can go with straight and clean lines to create a modern or contemporary landscape. Design a pool that reflects your persona and play with these elements to create a pool deck that your family and friends will enjoy.

4. Luxury Finishes

One trend that we expect to gain momentum in 2019 is the use of luxury finishes. People have come to recognize they are by no means limited when it comes to colours, stones, and finishes especially when working with a custom swimming pool. In natural stone there are beautiful finishes such as flame, antique, leather, natural, sandblast and other variety textures. Additionally luxury pools allow for customized stones with stunning cuts, shapes and finishes. Pool Copings can be customized to your pool design theme and the pool deck can be adorned with customized liner shapes that reflect a more contemporary style.

5. Cut Shapes and Simple Lines

Simple square pool shapes are supreme when it comes to modernized pool designs. This sharp cut shape offers a modern spa-like atmosphere and has become a widely popular shape for in-ground pools. This modernized trend incorporates full-width steps and offers opportunity when working with stone walling. It also offers an opportunity when designing long swim-out ledges in pools of a more rectangular shape. Going with a dark colour pool coping along with similar patio stone  – like our selection of Ebony, Saga, or Silver Aantique – can really take your pool design to the next level and create the backyard oasis of your dreams.