Pool Update + Living & Learning Confession

I'm popping in on this Sunday with a quick update on our patio progress + a little confession about some stresses we've faced with this project...

The landscapers FINALLY started last weekend and have been moving full speed ahead since then. As exciting as it has been in theory to watch the work progress each day, it's also been a little nerve racking because we really don't know what we are doing. Well, let me rephrase, we aren't physically doing anything, but throughout this process we have realized we are kind of just going forward and hoping that the decisions we have made are the right ones. We clearly have great craftsman around us, but no real leader. Maybe I'm more sensitive to this because I play the role of this leader for so many of my clients when it comes to their homes, but for us and this big, expensive project we are kind of flying solo and it's scary!!

Here is a shot looking at the pizza oven. They still have to finish the stack stone up the wall by the hot-tub and they will be adding plaster on the face of the fireplace (covering the brick) to match the plaster already added to the body of the pizza oven. Still trying to decide what we will do with the chimney...leave brick or plaster? 

I'm admittedly on one far end of the spectrum when it comes to details and consideration. It's a great trait to have when it comes to ensuring all the i's are dotted and the t's crossed for my clients, but for me and my house, it can actually be somewhat paralyzing. For most projects we tackle, I'm far too aware of the abundance of choices and have a hard time nailing down a direction for fear of something more exciting or creative coming to me later. But with this pool, I know nothing. I know what I want it to look like at the end of the day, but I have no real frame of reference when it comes to materials, pricing, combinations, pros and cons of this vs. that. I'm completely at the mercy of the people around me and like I said, those people are not big picture thinkers. They are focused on their specific task at hand - stone, fence, concrete, demo, whatever. There is no person with a beautiful rendering of our future back yard that has spent months talking us through our decisions that is leading the charge. Nay, it's just me and Brent, Pinterest and our imagination.  I'm constantly haunted by the "what ifs" ....What if we spend all of this money and it doesn't end up looking like what we had thought? What if we go to work one day and come home and find that the work they did that day did not align with our contract or vision (this has happened). It feels so vulnerable and frustrating!

This is the progress on the side steps! Do you guys remember this area? It used to have that weird "hut structure?" Well, that was removed and the new steps are going in. Already looking so much better!

Could we have gotten a landscape architect? Yes and maybe we should have, but you know, money doesn't grow on trees.  At a point we honestly just didn't know what we didn't know. Thankfully, I truly do think it's all going to come together, but I thought it might be helpful to others out there to know of some of the struggles we have faced. Whether you are doing a pool, a bathroom, building a house or renovating a coat closet - I have a new found respect and sense of compassion for any of you out there going through that on your own. And let this post serve as a reminder to you and ME that there are professionals out there for a reason. To think that just because you are good at one thing makes you a good enough expert on another is a recipe for disaster. All the respect for those out there owning their corner of expertise, may we all be wise enough to find those people and lean on their experience and knowledge when it comes time to tackle our dreams.

And this is the shot of the progress for the steps coming from the house. We have a new awning coming (woo!) and the rest of the landscaping (grassy area) will hopefully be starting this week. 

All photos are my own.

Our Pool

I have been excited to write this post for so long... 

We are getting a pool!!!

I know it may seem like we have a lot going on, but we have been working on this project for almost a year. No seriously, we started the conversation with the pool company last fall, signed our contract in early January and we just got a hole in the ground last week! It has been a process for sure, but we are excited to see some light at the end of this tunnel.

So, let's start at the beginning. When we found/purchased this house I really liked the idea of this being our "forever" or at least our "for a very very long time house". It's big enough for us to grow into, the location is perfect and it has everything we could want in a house with the exception of....a pool. Obviously a pool is not something we need but it is something we, and especially Brent really envisioned for his "for a long long time house". But we could add a pool one day, right? Well, I thought so, but Brent wasn't so sure. Our lot is kind of interesting, size wise so he had his doubts.

Our house sits on two lots. The original portion of our house was built in 1920. Back in 2007 the house behind ours was knocked down and the people did a big addition to our house. So, we have two driveways and one long, but somewhat narrow back yard with the foundation from the house that was torn down in our backyard. In fact this foundation is what our Outdoor Kitchen/Pizza Oven sits on. Remember that project? Yeah...it kind of took a back-burner position on the priority list when the idea of the pool became a real conversation.

One day late last summer we were looking at our backyard and talking through options for what we could do to finish it off. I brought up the pool and we actually gave it a hard look and took dimensions, etc. to find that it looked like we did have enough room to add one. So, we researched pool companies and landed on Hilltop Pools. The company sent out pool designer, Anthony Longshore, who came to our house, took dimensions and notes and then drew out our pool on the computer right before our eyes. In doing so he was able to provide a quote that very day. We had a lot to think about, so Brent opened up SketchUp and did a more detailed drawing, all his own. Doing this really helped us play with details, not only pool specific but landscape related as well. Here is where we landed:

What you are looking at here is a hot tub, sitting just beyond the pizza oven and water falling into a  10 foot wide x 30 feet long pool. The pool will sit right beside the existing fence. It's planned to be 42" deep all the way across except for a shallow tanning deck at the far end.

OK, so seems simple enough, right, so why did it take almost 9 months from contract to dig? Two words: Setback Variance. We live in the city of Atlanta, and in our district the minimum set back from the lot line is 7 feet.Well,  the layout of the backyard made it pretty much impossible to start the pool 7+ feet from our lot-line without stepping right into it from our back steps. In addition the existing fence + old house foundation (our patio) were already over that set-back and kind of pre-determined where the pool needed to be. Sooooo we applied for a set-back variance, i.e. permission to have an exception made so that we could place the pool where we needed/wanted it to go. This process consisted of presenting and getting approval from:

• Neighborhood Association
• NPU (had to do this one twice)
• City of Atlanta Zoning Board down at City Hall. 

We were also encouraged to get neighbor signatures. Phew, It makes me exhausted just thinking about it. But, we got through it and were awarded the variance approval. This was first week of May. Since then, we have been going through the regular permitting process which required nothing of us, but did take time. Finally, about two weeks ago we were given our "dig day" and last Tuesday the bulldozers showed up and got busy.

By the end of day one the hole was dug and Croix could not of been more excited to watch the "machines" do all that work.

Now that things have started we are rolling right along. The guys were out for 3 straight days and now we have the plumbing run, the re bar is in and the pool equipment is hooked up! It's really starting to look like a pool and we couldn't be more excited!

The lead time is around 8 weeks, so I will keep you all updated as things continue to progress. Through this process we will also be finishing off the Outdoor Kitchen (finally!!) + re-landscaping the back yard. The vision - a modern English garden, but more on that later...

All photos are my own.