July:
Tiling
With the pool build imminent it is time to dig out the brochures and have another stab at choosing a mosaic tile before it affects the pool build critical path. Time to also commit to a pool interior finish from ‘Jewels for Pools’.
No idea on pool finish so pick the first one that takes my fancy, bl4, and ask the very helpful lady in the pool office if they have any photos of it from completed pools.
[ Jewels for Pools: bl4 ]
Strike it lucky! Great photo of the lining combined with beautiful Ezarri water line tiles.
Back to the tile shops but nothing in the included price range speaks to me. Time to upgrade for a bit of bling! Hello Ezarri! Luckily they sent out samples immediately, decision made:
Pool water line tiles:
Spa:
[ Arctic light mix is 70% Iris Azur ]
Did I mention ‘we’ also decided to fully tile the spa at the same time?
Concreting:
Pool is ready for concreting.
The pool and spa plumbing is in plus all the lights. The formwork goes up for the concreting and a stream of concrete lorries and a pump arrive.
Spray concreting the pool:
The pool is left to cure and we go off on to the UK for six weeks leaving our eldest son to spray the pool down twice a day to help the curing process. Before we go a quick trip to Amber Tiles to choose the pool coping and pavers:
[Limestone ‘Marseille’ 600 x 400 mm]
August
Landscaping starts whilst the pool is curing. Concrete footings go in for the raised flower bed and small side retaining wall. The plumbing is covered in sand and road base to protect it.
[ Prepped and ready for the tiler ]
Tiler does coping, water line tiles and then the spa. Tiles look amazing in the sunshine.
September
Lots of work before the footings for the feature wall are poured. Plumbing for the pool, spa and rain tank is carried out plus irrigation lines are reinstalled in conduit. Work starts on the feature wall and the raised bed is finished.
Electrician comes to install the safety cut off for the spa and install electricity in the wall for the artwork, a metal light box from
Urban Design Systems metal artwork
[Waratah photos from Urban Design Systems]
The pool surround steel reo goes in to reinforce the pavers and rain tank area. Prior to the concrete being poured we pay to have all the pipe work pressure tested to ensure there are no leaks. The concrete is poured and cures then the limestone pavers are laid.
The feature wall and raised flower bed are rendered and the pool fencers measured up for the frameless glass fencing.
Pool equipment installed and huge sound absorbing pool filter box to house it all.
[ http://thefilterboxcompany.com/page1.aspx ]
End of September
The holiday weekend saw hubby working hard and painting the new render in Dulux Hogs Bristle after it had cured.
[ The red button on the pillar at the RHS is the emergency spa cut off]
The pool glass fencing is due to go in at the end of the first week of October and then the pool lining can be done.
Majestic 40 at Gardener's Ridge 
December 8, 2017 at 21:18
Hi D and N, wanted to wish you all Merry Christmas!
I’ve been looking at the photos of your garden and you’ve inspired me. I love the wall art and will try to source something like it in the UK.
Our garden starts on Monday, patios, retaining walls and all the hard landscaping. Planting in March. Lots of decisions over the next few weeks, love N x
December 21, 2017 at 14:19
Happy Christmas to all of you too N!
I’m glad you like the garden and artwork.
I will post photos of it all when it is wired up and finished.
Good luck with your landscaping, any chance of you doing a blog on it?
Love D x
September 27, 2018 at 17:28
I have been looking at your garden. I live at North Richmond. When we bought our property we had vacant farm land behind us. There are houses behind us now which have an inter-allotment drainage system but we seem to be getting all the runoff. I was wondering who built your water garden as I may have to have something done. Our drainage was fine until some engineer decided that altering the lie of the land in the new estate was a good idea. Hope you can assist as I love what you have done. Regards Cheryl
September 27, 2018 at 17:53
Hi Cheryl,
I’m sorry to hear you’ve got problems with run off. We did too which is why we had retaining walls put in on both sides and plenty of drainage. Good luck sorting it out.
We used Corey from Instyle Landscapes and Paving. You can find his details on the web and plenty of very positive reviews. We did our garden in three stages and Corey did all of it. I highly recommend him and his team, we are so pleased with the end result and I’m glad you like it too 🙂