A raised pool held by a cut limestone wall

A sloping lot gives you two options: cut into it, or build up from it. Here the ground dropped away from the covered patio, and raising the pool meant the water sat at the same level as the living space instead of at the bottom of a set of steps.

The retaining wall is cut limestone in a mixed course, chosen to sit with the stone already on the house. It does the structural work and doubles as seating along the deck side.

At the far end a raised bench carries a row of bubblers, which gives small children somewhere to sit in a few inches of water and gives everyone else something to listen to. Loungers sit on the wide deck under an umbrella on the house side, where the shade lands in the afternoon.