Doing something as beautiful as the photos you posted, I say real stone. Can you combine? Fake under water and Real above?

Two of those three inspiration pics, my PB says are likely fake #2 and #3 (!)

I don't think I could combine b/c the real stone would have to sit on top of the fake and I'm not sure it would provide enough stability/ support.

This is the rest of the yard BTW, so you can see how much rock there is already. The same landscape company that did this is doing the pool.

Water fall #1

Water fall #2 Pool will be to the left of this water fall, starting in the area where the mulch ends.

I would always go with natural, esp in that beautiful yard. Unless there was an issue with weight. I don't think you would ever be sorry with real, and it will last forever.

I've use all real stone in my back yard, except for one piece. If at all possible, stick with all real stone. However, if by "fake" you mean "manufactured", then there would be less of an issue.

Consensus says real. That's what DH wants too. If no one wants to speak up for fake stone, then real it is :)

Wise decision, beagles. I've seen plenty of money-is-no-object pools done with fake stone and I've never yet seen one that didn't make me think, "Why did they bother?"

I think the first of your inspiration pools is far more beautiful than the other two.

I agree writers, first pic is way more beautiful That picture was the picture that convinced DH that a pool in PA was a good plan (he didn't think we needed one in PA but other family members aka me and doggies disagreed)

100% real! All the pools I have had used real there's really no comparison.

Real! Especially so close to other real stones, the difference will be noticed. Lovely yard, btw.

Good decision to go with real. I think you would eventually regret fake. Unless, as someone pointed out, there would be a reason to incorporate a few fake ones for some technical reason.

MY PB is checking with the supplier to see if we can incorporate a few "fakes" under the water line and then switch to real along the top. If it is possible, that would eliminate the downside of real, which is the inability to bring the stone under the water line.

We really want the pool to look like a swimming hole, not a pool. I'm hopeful we can achieve that... it's a hard look to pull off well.

If that first photo pool is real stone, and it sure looks like it, they must have done something like that for the pool steps, no?

It looks from the pic like the steps into the first pool are smooth. Not stone. Probably made of the same material as the pool.

Okay, you would know since you have the original pic, but FWIW on my monitor the second (bottom) step looks very textured. to the point where you might have to be careful how you step. Must just be something in the size reduction algorithm that Houzz uses.

I don't want to sound mean, it's really not my intent, but I just hate fake. It doesn't matter what the project is we always go natural and there's nothing that IMO is more authentic and beautiful than natural wood or stone.

We definitely cannot put natural as the pool edge under the water line but I'm hopeful we can incorporate some fake under there and do all the above water real. if the stone is submerged, it should be pretty hard to tell it's fake.

Hopefully you're right writers. it would be nice if there is a way to do stone underneath like that.

A tip I got from a very good landscaper is, whether you use real stone or fake, to choose a color very close to the color of the natural stone your the area, because for some not-quite identifiable reason, it will look much more "right" than any other color. Having remembered that comment, and having considered many many local landscape projects since then, that advice has proven spot-on.

Thanks.

I will definitely make certain rocks match our local rocks!

Our waterfall rocks were actually all collected from our property (we have 6 acres and a lot of rocks) . We wanted to make the waterfall feature look as if they were natural springs coming down off the mountain, rather than water features, and we were lucky our landscaper was willing to collect all the rocks!

Delilah66, I'll let you know when it's ready, you can come on over!

Not only real, but preferably indigenous. In addition, less is more with these designs. Ask your designer to suggest some looks that could conceivably be naturally occurring. I am thinking like the hikes in Ricketts Glen. If memory serves you are in a part of rural PA that may be similar? I'd also ask to look only at local pools: i would not want design ideas from say, Maui. For your existing water feature, you may want to add some more ground cover and low shrubs or grasses, again to look more indigenous. ETA or put a few more random boulders to the right and/or left of the stream-like feature, in the areas that are flat?

Thanks MtnRdRedux!

I will look at Ricketts Glen. That's about 2+ hours from us. We're in a wooded neighborhood but not particularly rural directly around where we are. Our PB /landscaper is working on finalizing some appropriate design ideas... with real local rock.

There are a lot of rocks in this one particular area in our neighborhood that are used by the full-time staff who do landscaping in our neighborhood (the people who landscape the common areas, in other words) and I'm going to ask if there is any way they'd be willing to let us buy/use any of them b/c there are SO many I can't imagine the neighborhood is going to use them all... Then they would really be collected locally (e.g. on the 204 wooded acres that are part of our neighborhood)... but don't know if they'll be willing.

Our pictures of our existing water feature that I posted here were taken when first put in and plants were just planted. A lot of the plants have grown in and the back hill is fuller now (the pump is also covered now too, not open as in this picture!)

We're working on adding plants as we see what the deer do/don't eat too. It is a very wooded and hilly lot, so it is challenging esp. b/c we want to keep everything natural and woodsy.

Yeah, I just knew it wasn't suburban and given that I thought you were sort of near Harrisburg I thought of that area. But maybe something like that area... any local area that has some falls. Over 10 yrs ago RG was written up in the NYT because it has like 10 miles of trails with 22 waterfalls, so we did a quick trip there and hiked it. It was fun.

Yes, I am sure deer are a big issue. Thankfully our PO deer-fenced all of our acreage so we didn't have to. It really helps with landscape choices. But sometimes I miss having seeing them a bit!

I looked at the pictures of Ricketts Glen, it looks beautiful! I now want to plan a trip up to visit there this year! Those are great inspiration pics. Thanks so much for the idea!

We're reasonably close to Philly. (About 45 minutes depending on traffic.)

I love to see the deer, so I'm willing to deal w/ them eating plants! Here are four of them that like to visit the area off our bedroom deck! I'll sit out w/ tea sometimes and watch them. They don't seem to mind people or even the dogs!

One thing you notice in the RG photo that may be true in your woods, too; very little orange coloring in the stone. You probably want bluestone, but even there you need to watch your batches. Also the stone in RG tends not to be rounded as much as sort of craggy and layered. Lastly, a lot of green and lichen. In our Maine project our landscape designer sourced rock/boulders with lichen on them (as well as using ones from our excavation), and he planted thyme in between the bluestone (which have small pebbles in between). In another project we had a lovely moss garden, also apropos (if and where the conditions are right). You also probably want to paint the pool a dark grey color so it does not read aqua. Also consider vegetation up to one edge or part. Years ago boopadoo posted some interesting swimming pool llooks, below

sabbath7, your pool and fireplace is very pretty! Are those real rocks under the hot tub area? I like how the water flows over the stones.

Mtn, that second picture you posted is one I've come across before and I believe it was a natural pool, AKA there is no pool cleaning system and the vegetation keeps the water clean. I briefly entertained the idea of doing something that b/c I love that picture, but gave up quickly b/c it seemed like too much hassle, impractical for us, and possibly kind of gross.

These are very helpful suggestions, thanks!

I have to be careful what I do around the pool's edging as far as vegetation b/c the dogs like to run circles around the pool when they swim in FL and they also like to roll around in grassy/plant areas when they are wet so I need to make sure they don't have garden areas where they can roll around and get filthy as they run around the pool. Garden/greenery has to be incorporated where they cannot get into it to make a mess.

Our PB has us sourced to use PA Bluestone irregular slab pool coping and decking so we're good on that! I think he'll be good at picking out the rocks that look right b/c he knows we were very fanatical about the rocks for our water falls (like I said, we insisted on only rock sourced directly from our land for those... unfortunately, we don't have enough big rocks left on our land to do the pool).

I will stress no orange-ish rocks and minimal or no rounded stone! I don't like round stones, they don't look as natural/rustic to me.

We're trying to get the pool water color to be kind of like my first picture, do you think that was done w/ grey interior? I told PB I wanted water similar to that color, not sure what is planed for that yet.

I'm not sure DH will go for rocks with lichen, he tends not to like mossy rocks and rejected the mossy once which were found when we did the water features. Don't know why he doesn't like b/c I think they look natural and add interest, but must compromise :)

Beagles- the stone on the waterfall is real. We just had a shoreline restoration project done and had some large stones delivered for the project. They were beautiful! I love the picture above with the huge stones. We have a huge stone in our front yard that needed to be put in by a crane. I love huge rocks.

Beagles, I am curious. Did they say why no real stone under water?

We could have real stone underwater as a decorative thing, like a rock sitting in the water or whatever. But if the stone is going to be a part of the side of the pool, it has to be fake. I assume b/c real stone couldn't be fashioned into a cohesive piece solid enough to be impermeable to water and produce the sides of the pool.... If that makes sense.

Hi Beagles,

Yes. White plaster equals aqua, black equals dark blue ... the first photo looks like light grey to me. They will probably suggest a surface for the pool interior called Riverrock or similar. Plaster that is finished in grey or black costs a bit more that white initially, but also requires upkeep every few years. Riverrock, which comes in a lot of "designs" and colors, lasts much longer and costs more than plaster of any color. Personally i do not like Riverrock. To me it looks really fake and kind of almost industrial. YMMV. One minor point. You will want pool lights (inside the pool). I like mine incandescent (they will spec halogen) and I like to be able to dim them (they often don't think of that).

Thanks. I will have to look at that riverrock stuff. There's a particular pool color I like from the pictures I've seen of previously done pool, so I will likely tell them to just do my pool in that finish.

I'm not sure what the plan is for lights. Will have to ask. I don't think we've ever turned our in-pool lights on in FL, so I'm not overly concerned about that issue.

Really; you don't ever entertain poolside? I love the way a pool looks lit up at night it is one of my favorite things about them. Plus, we swim at night.

We do entertain poolside sometimes, but we just don't ever bother to light up the pool. We just put our regular outside lights on (the ones under the covered area and on the house). We also don't put the lights on when we go swimming or use the hot tub at night. I don't know why we don't. They are remote controlled too. I have had pools my whole life and the pool in this FL house is the first to have lights, so I guess I just never got in the habit. Maybe I should start!

lol, it is so pretty, esp if you can dim them!

We had light in our pool in TX and we loved using them, they were so pretty. Our pool here doesn't have lights.