(September 2014) – Al Curtis and his team at Legendary Escapes recently unveiled their newest hybrid swimming pool, a beautiful South Florida-inspired entertainment area. The muted colors, bubbling fountains, and clean lines are reminiscent of the homeowners’ favorite getaway. The project features some of the team’s signature features, while beautifully showcasing Curtis’ dimension as a designer. The clean lines and understated features of this elegant entertainment area are a departure from Curtis’ usual rustic, organic feel.
This backyard entertainment area was designed and built around a busy, professional lifestyle. The homeowners wanted a casual, contemporary space with plenty of room for guests while staying family-friendly. A quick look at Curtis’ portfolio shows his style is typically rustic, artistic, and organic–he tends to avoid rulers and measurements and rely on the keen spacial sense he has developed over years of working with swimming pools. Hand-sculpted rock slides, waterfalls, and other accents are tell-tale signs of Al and his team at work. However, for the right client, Curtis was glad to step out of his usual style and create this stunning, contemporary entertainment area.
The pool’s most eye-catching feature is the sunshelf, where swimmers can lounge in just a few feet of water, either directly in the water or on a chair. The gunite sunshelf features five fun fountains that shoot jets of water at varying heights into the air. The raised wall behind these bubblers makes for a beautiful backdrop and adds privacy so the pool can’t be seen from the road. The bubblers were inspired, again, by the homeowners’ favorite getaway in South Florida. The swimming pool has another water feature, as well: a Legendary Escapes signature piece, a hand-carved concrete turtle. This fun little fountain squirts water from its mouth and serves as a great, attractive alternative to a diving board for the family’s young boys.
The entertainment area also features several seating areas to accommodate family, friends, and professional contacts. A table and chairs provide a casual dining area, lounge chairs give a comfortable place to relax, and a couch and table set are perfect for after dark, with a fire pit built into the table. These pieces are, again, a departure from Curtis’ usual home-made style; they are pre-fabricated pieces. However, with the style of this swimming pool and entertainment area, they are great additions and very much fall in line with the desired theme. They bring more clean lines and contemporary elements to this space. The homeowners wanted symmetry and balance in their backyard, to complement the house and the space.
Due to some setbacks and restraints in the yard, a symmetrical pool wasn’t a possibility. However, Curtis was able to work with the restraints and create a balanced look and feel. The homeowners were very confident in Curtis and his team. Although they had specific desires in terms of theme and feel, they trusted Curtis to design and build a beautiful swimming pool that exceeded their expectations. They were relatively hands-off when it came to the building process: they let Curtis run with the design elements and allowed him to make whatever design choices he thought would be best. This led to a great relationship and trust, and of course to a beautiful end result.
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Al Curtis is the designer and builder for Legendary Escapes Pools, specializing in artistic, one-of-a-kind hybrid swimming pools. For more information, or to set up a design appointment, contact Al or a capable member of his team by phone (248-478-4978), email, (pools@legendaryescapes.com), or online (www.legendaryescapes.com)