✨ Interior images are AI-generated. Items shown are similar to those in the video.

Resort Minimalista

Long narrow pool with a waterfall that spills outside the swim area

The pool is long and narrow, proportioned for swimming rather than sitting, and that governs everything else. The waterfall doesn't land in it: it spills into a separate channel that drains into the pool at one end, so the water that moves and the water you swim in aren't the same. Around it, a ring of spots recessed into the coping replaces submerged fittings, so at night what's lit is the edge and not the floor.

Piscina alargadaNadarGresite turquesaCascada en canalLuz de coronaciónStrelitziaPorcelánico antideslizanteAgavepH y cloroAnochecer

Design keys

A long narrow pool, proportioned for swimming lengths rather than for sitting in.
Pale turquoise mosaic in the pool, giving back a bright water colour against the dark waterfall panel.
A fine curtain waterfall on dark mosaic, spilling into a separate channel and not into the pool.
A ring of spots recessed into the coping, instead of submerged fittings inside the water.
A colour temperature contrast: warm points on the paving and cool turquoise water, each in its own plane.
Strelitzias and agave planted behind the paving, out of leaf-drop range of the pool.

Furniture and decor in this design

Items shown are similar to those in the video, not necessarily identical.

Counter-current swim unit

A high-flow pump with an adjustable nozzle generating a current you swim against without moving forward. It's what turns a short pool into one you can actually train in, and it installs both in new construction and clamped to the edge of an existing pool. Look at flow rate rather than watts, and make sure the jet is adjustable: at full power most people last only a few minutes.

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Automatic pH controller for pools

A unit with a probe and dosing pump that measures pH continuously and corrects by itself. With a waterfall running it stops being a luxury: aeration raises pH daily, and correcting by hand becomes a weekly chore. Budget for replacing the probe every one or two seasons and for calibrating it at the start of each summer, which is what most people skip and why it stops reading true.

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Anti-slip porcelain paving for pool surrounds

Large-format porcelain with an anti-slip finish, in a pale tone so it doesn't burn bare feet. What to check on the datasheet is the slip classification: a pool surround calls for the high class, and interior porcelain with a similar look doesn't meet it. The pale tone isn't only aesthetic: dark paving under August sun is simply impossible to walk on without shoes.

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Robotic pool cleaner

A self-contained electric cleaner that works the pool and vacuums floor and walls. In a long pool surrounded by large-leaved planting it's the difference between five minutes and half an hour each time. Choose one that climbs the walls and does the waterline, because on pale mosaic the dirty band at the edge shows long before any dirt on the floor does.

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Flush coping light for a pool edge

A flush in-ground point, walkable and rated for a wet zone, washing the paving rather than aiming at the pool. It sits in the coping itself, spread around the whole perimeter, and its job is to mark where the floor ends. Check two things on the datasheet: that it's rated for foot traffic and that it's suitable for a pool splash zone, which is a step above an ordinary garden recessed fitting.

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How to get this look at home

The waterfall spills into a separate channel rather than straight into the pool. That way whoever's swimming doesn't take the fall on their head, the noise stays at one end and, above all, the water can be stopped without stopping the pool.
A waterfall aerates the water, and that has consequences you can't see: it raises pH and speeds up chlorine loss. With a permanent fall, expect to adjust more often, which is why it wants its own valve rather than running around the clock.
The edge lights go recessed and grazing, never aimed at the pool. Pointed at the water they dazzle whoever is in it, looking from exactly that height; grazing, they mark the edge, which is what stops a misstep getting out.
In a long pool, the coping should be wider along the long sides than the short ones. That's where you get in and out and where a hand rests between lengths, and a narrow edge right there is uncomfortable and slippery.
The strelitzias sit behind the paving and not beside the pool. A large leaf at a pool edge means leaves in the water every day: compact, hard-leaved species go at the edge, and anything broad-leaved moves a couple of metres back.

FAQ

What size does a pool need to be for real swimming?

Longer than most people build. To swim lengths without turning every three strokes you want something like ten or twelve metres, and a minimum width of around two and a half for one swimmer. Keep the depth uniform, because a sloped floor means swimming downhill and then uphill. If there's no room for that length, the real answer isn't to stretch the pool but to fit a counter-current swim unit: with one, a four or five metre pool lets you swim continuously without ever reaching the far end.

Why does the waterfall spill outside the pool?

Three practical reasons. The first is physical: a swimmer doesn't want a fall of water on their head or the noise right in the lane they're using. The second is installation: with the waterfall on its own circuit you can switch it off without touching the filtration, which has to keep running. And the third is chemical, the one least often anticipated: a fall aerates the water, raises pH and speeds up chlorine loss, so separating it from the pool and being able to stop it saves correcting the readings daily.

Can you light a pool from the edge only?

You can, and there are advantages: the result is far calmer than a pool lit from within, it keeps electrical equipment out of the water and, above all, it marks the edge, which at night is what stops you stepping where there's no floor. The drawback has to be accepted: with no submerged fitting you can't see the bottom. With children who might swim at night, or if the pool will often be used in the dark, fit at least one underwater light even if it's only used then.

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Long narrow pool with a waterfall that spills outside the swim area

Design keys

Furniture and decor in this design

How to get this look at home

FAQ

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