Decorating & Design
Dive Into Four Inspiring Pool And Landscape Designs For City Or Country
Updated on July 4, 2024
Is there any better way to cool off in the peak of summer than in a backyard pool? “You don’t need a huge yard to have a pool, and it doesn’t need to take over the whole space; you can still have a garden,” says landscape designer Leigh Gravenor. Get inspiration for your city or country yard with four different pool and landscape designs below. Scroll down!
1. Forest City Pool
You could be forgiven for thinking this city pool in midtown Toronto is in a country setting, but that’s not the only assumption it challenges. “You don’t need a huge yard to have a pool, and it doesn’t need to take over the whole space; you can still have a garden,” says landscape designer Leigh Gravenor.
It was a typical yard — 69 by 25 feet with grass and a big tree, and not much else. On the plus side, the neighbors’ mature trees made the space look like it was nestled in a forest. In the summer, owners Christena and Jamie Manley love entertaining here. The dark grey, insulated concrete form gives the pool a pond-like look, and it’s big enough to swim laps. A former changeroom was modified to include an infrared sauna, used by the family year-round.
For the landscaping, Leigh augmented the existing greenery with newly planted beech trees. “We used a green-on-green color palette, with lots of texture, lushness and a little bit of wildness,” she says. The pool is now an integral part of family life. “Jamie swims early morning laps in the summer and does cold plunges in the fall,” says Christena, “and my tween daughter enjoys night swims with her friends. Even our golden retriever loves to swim, and then bask in the sun.”
The grey-hued pool and Algonquin limestone deck complement the urban forest setting. To the right of the pool is the infrared sauna and shower. The lounge chairs are set on pea gravel, which is great for drainage. The shed is built from long-lasting Thermory ash. A ‘Seiryu’ Japanese maple (right of sauna and shed) is underplanted with ferns.
Location: Moore Park, midtown Toronto
Pool Type: Insulated, concrete-form saltwater pool
Why They Chose It: The owners wanted a lap pool with a sauna so they could do cold plunges
The Dimensions: 32′ l. x 10′ w. x 9′ d.
Pool Construction: Four and a half months
2. Modern Urban Pool
Allweather Landscape designer Ted Hobson had a tall order for this backyard: his clients, a family in Toronto with three kids and foster dogs, wanted a concrete pool, outdoor kitchen and dining area, plus space for the pups. The team got to work, excavating for the pool in the fall of 2019, with construction finished by the next summer. When installing a pool in a compact city backyard, access can be a challenge due to the limited space between homes. “During construction, the neighbors changed their minds about allowing us access to their driveway to bring equipment in,” says Ted. “We ended up using conveyor belts to move the excavated soil from the backyard to the front yard for disposal.”
The pool features polished porcelain waterline tile and a stone wall with a spillway to muffle traffic sounds and obscure the pool equipment. The dining space and outdoor kitchen area are delineated from the pool’s limestone coping by an area of man-made pavers, and there’s a patch of pet-friendly artificial grass for the dogs. Custom Corten steel planters provide a neat edge for the turf. “We didn’t want to pave the whole yard, and natural grass wouldn’t have survived because it’s so shady,” says Ted.
Precast concrete pavers define the dining area; the outdoor kitchen is equipped with a sink, gas and charcoal grills, and a mini fridge.
An enormous daybed is perfect for lounging after a swim; the Thermory ash fence is an eco-friendly alternative to ipê wood. Faux hedge conceals a generator while the spillway wall hides the pool equipment. Hornbeam trees (left) form a natural privacy screen.
Location: A compact lot in the heart of the city
Pool Type: Concrete with a plaster exposed aggregate interior finish and ozone and UV water purification
Why They Chose It: The owners wanted a pool that still left space for a big dining area, outdoor kitchen and a grassy patch for their dogs
The Dimensions: 16′ l. x 9′ w. x 5′ d.
Pool Construction: Around 10 months
3. The Stately Pool
When a client gives a designer carte blanche, it’s music to their ears. That’s what happened at this property in Toronto’s Rosedale neighborhood. To match the stately red brick house, landscape architect Ronald Holbrook used a similarly elevated and architectural approach. The back of the house has generous glazing with views to the garden and pool, so it was essential that the terrace design be clean and uncluttered. The furniture is divided into two zones clustered at either end of the pool. To keep the vistas clear, boxwood shrubs are sunken directly into beds inset into the pool’s sandblasted Algonquin limestone deck.
“In keeping with the formal reflecting pool aesthetic, symmetrically placed shrubs accent the border of the pool and add yearround greenery,” says Ronald. The plant material in the garden is rich and varied, a combination of perennials, evergreens and low ornamental grasses. “The ravine setting offered a natural backdrop to an otherwise structured, formal garden,” says Ronald. “We were able to incorporate the clients’ entire wish list into a relatively small back garden.”
A barbecue is placed in a stone-walled niche near the dining table. Boxwoods divide perennials such as oakleaf hydrangeas and lilac specimen trees.
A stone fireplace warms up a minimalist lounge area. The formal lap pool is designed to resemble a reflecting pool. The back garden is naturalized by evergreens, Serbian spruce, and Japanese forest grass.
Location: A leafy, upscale city enclave
Pool Type: Gunite saltwater pool with a marbelite finish
Why They Chose It: The owners wanted a reflecting pool look, and a garden where the pool didn’t overwhelm the space
The Dimensions: 38′ l. x 13′ w. x 6′ d.
Pool Construction: Around two to three months
4. Rustic Country Pool
Genevieve Makinson and her husband, James Aitken, bought this country house as a winter weekend escape in 2017; it was just a five-minute drive from Osler Bluff Ski Club. In 2018, while renovating the property’s cabin, they decided to install a pool, and the project was wrapped by that spring. Since the pool abuts the driveway, a divider was needed to screen it from the nearby parking area. “The fieldstone wall was inspired by a hotel in Italy that James and I love,” says Genevieve. Punctuated by five waterfall sprays, the wall seems to spill into the pool’s shallow end. “If you drive through the countryside, you see many of those rustic farm walls around here,” says Curtis Hutten of The Landmark Group.
“This pool, designed by Joél Zavitz, has won awards for us. If you choose a fibreglass or vinyl pool, your options are more limited, but concrete pools allow you to have more unique shapes and designs.” For Genevieve’s part, she loves looking out at the pool from the kitchen doors. “I can watch the heads of my Australian shepherds glide back and forth as they swim, and see the kids play.”
A hot tub and firepit extend the family’s enjoyment of the outdoor space into the cooler seasons.
“The kids love night swimming when the pool is lit in different colors,” says Genevieve. During shoulder seasons, James likes to start the day with a cold plunge. Garden beds are filled with Russian sage, catmint, Chinese silver grass and coneflowers.
The granite boulders, which look like they’ve naturally tumbled into the water, were locally sourced from Grey County.
Location: Collingwood, Ont.
Pool Type: Gunite pool with a fieldstone wall and
granite boulders
Why They Chose It: The owners wanted a pond-like pool for their tween children and the dogs, plus a firepit and spa
The Dimensions: 32′ l. x 16′ w. x 8’6″ d.
Pool Construction: Around eight months
Garden plan illustrations by Shelley Frayer
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