come over for a swim

We still can't quite believe that we have a pool. After waiting until the boy of the house was a competent swimmer, we finally decided that the time was right to build a pool, and it made sense to do this before the renovation started while access to the back garden was very easy and there was plenty of space to move around in.

The pool was originally scheduled to start in January 2011, but that of course was the time of the terrible floods in Brisbane. Luckily we were not affected by any flooding, but the ground was so water logged from all the rain that they had to delay digging the pool by about 6 weeks to avoid it caving in. Scary thought. We felt so lucky to have escaped unscathed from the floods compared to so many people who lost everything. It did mean our pool was eventually ready just in time for winter, with the boy of the house declaring that he would get frostbite if he swam in it. Clearly he has not inherited many of my hardy Scottish genes....

We didn't finish the landscaping as we moved out at that stage for the major part of the renovation to begin. In the past week we have been doing some more work around the pool so I thought I would post the progress photos over the year. It makes me a bit sad to see how much lovely back garden we have lost - both to the pool and now to the extension of the house - but of course you can't have everything.

the garden before the pool

this is what it looked like when we moved out

In the past week we have had Eco decking (bamboo composite) laid along one side, and have tidied up the conifers and the jasmine that were planted just before moving out. The pool builder only recommended a small area of coping down one side which sounded good at the time, but we have reconsidered and wanted more room for kids to play. I hope that by next summer the jasmine will have flourished and grown along the trellis to camouflage the fence. We have also moved the pool filter and paraphenalia into a shed.

There is still a bit of work to be done, but I am really looking forward to being able to say to friends "why don't you come over for a swim?"