1) Bottom drains are not required in residential pools but are very useful to have. If you ever need to dump water below the skimmer, it's a PITA without one. If, for any reason, the water drops below the skimmer, without a drain line that the pump can run off, you can't easily run the pump to circulate. The question I have about company #1 is will they be putting in two drain pots ties together. Unless the existing drain is tied to the skimmer, that type of modification may require two drains, three feet apart. This is as the result of a relatively new law called the Virginia Graham(SP) Baker Act of 2007, or VGB 2007. This is law created some Federal requirements for swimming pool construction. One part states that there may no longer be constructed any submerged suction outlets that have a single source of suction or shall be be large enough that a person cannot block it and become entrapped under water due to suction. Additionally, the covers for these suction outlets shall have passed a testing procedure and proven effective against entanglements, such as could happen with long hair or necklaces to a specified flow rate. The above work can be done without it screwing up the pool's integrity. Is it easy, no. If it was, Grandma would have done it. If the existing drain is fine, leave it and replace it's cover with a new VGB compliant cover. Since the old style is no longer available in the US legally, it does make the existing one safer. There is no requirement that I know of that requires retrofitting the new construction codes to existing residential pools except during certain repairs. Permanently sealing off an existing single main drain suction outlet is permitted. Replacing a single drain with a similarly sized one, assuming we're talking about a standard 9" drain, must be turned into a dual drain unless the single drain is tied at the skimmer so as to prevent a single source of suction underwater. It's a mouth full, I know. Sorry, but the VGB act is a good thing in that it helps make pools and spas much safer. 2) Pebble Tec's standards and controls are much stricter. This makes it a better product. 3) Hydraulic=oil . Leaks happen and can be messy and costly. Clean up can be costly. I prefer the rope and pulley systems that pull the cover along it's tracks and then use a direct drive to turn the spindle that reels the cover back. 4) I would be concerned with how the artificial and dog pee/poop and potential staining and odors. Scott

Yes but its not just the desired look. If cost is not a factor, anything is possible. But if you have not done a lot of remodeling, you may not be aware of all the associated costs with changing all this. The ceiling, the lighting, framing out the window and wall, matching and replacing the existing exterior. While maintaining the exterior design balance. Moving plumbing, gas and electrical. Your house was built for this kitchen so everything you are considering has major expense to change. You might be better off as far as function and design to bump out the back and redo the whole thing.

Thanks for all your wonderful suggestions. I love both the grey and cream colour schemes. Provincial regulations require a fence around the pool which cannot be chain-link (which is climbable), however this unfenced pool dates to the 1960s, before those laws were in effect, and is therefore grandfathered. Needless to say, grandfathering doesn't prevent a child or pet from drowning, so one of our first priorities upon closing will be to erect a fence. To answer questions, and for clarification, the large entry door is not the main entrance to the house, unfortunately. The small door to the left is. The larger door leads to a room with a bar, which is directly under the master bedroom and connected to it with a staircase. We plan to remove the bar and make this area our home gym. The roof is not Spanish clay tile, but rather asphalt shingles in a mottled terra cotta, brownish colour. (The house - a second home for us - in the Laurentian mountains, an hour north of Montreal, so no terra cotta tiles around here!) It is indeed a very awkward layout that will be challenging. There are even weirder features inside, however the location (proximity to our home in Montreal) and large non-motorboat lake are spectacular, so those factors sold us!

Perhaps a shade sail to extend the patio? Then you might be able to get a large potted plant to survive. Maybe a large planter under the laundry room (?) windows. Use more of the cedar as an accent/trellis. Like this, but styled more to match your other yard elements: https://images.homedepot-static.com/productImages/29272905-cb70-4fca-bdbf-21719a86848a/svn/teak-oil-dmc-plant-pots-70514-64_1000.jpg I do think the rest of your yard is amazing. (How did you get the artichokes to be so perfect?) But that's why the house side looks plain. Everything else looks too good.