Here's a picture of the slide. The colors are just too busy and not what we were looking for. Their is also too big of a drop from the top down into the slide seat. They broke the top and created a step down so the kids can slide. Waiting on good weather to strip the slide where it is yellow and green/grays to change those colors a bit darker. We may end up redoing the whole thing in a solid color. Right now it's just really ugly to me and I've hardly taken any pictures since. Here is our grill they finished. It was a small 8 ft area but worked out perfectly for us :) This is the first half of the arbor. We are building another one right behind it that goes into the ground to support the entire thing. The second arbor will be for a hammock...totally can't wait. Looking from under the arbor back at the house. You can see our iron fence for the dog run is up and hubby got his Longhorn emblem made into the fence. A little path to our pool equipment behind the slide.

This is going to be a pretty pool I noticed a few things that may warrant some considerations. A Clean & Clear Plus 520 square foot cartridge filter is better in arid locations. You won't blow off water backwashing and it is a better match to the pump's capabilities. The sheers and lams don't need an Intelliflow. Too much pump and since these are infrequently used, that's a lot of money! A single speed will do quite nicely, properly valved and extra returns in the pool to take any overflow unless the sheers are four foot wide each. They should have their own filter too unless the suction outlets are in the wall where they can't pick up debris on the bottom. Make sure the autocover has all high grade stainless hardware. Often, they come with galvanized. Does that include a spool cover that can accommodate matching coping. This is how the service crews get to the cover's mechanicals. Is the spool to be above or below ground? Are the cover's tracks under or over the deck? How long is the fabric warrantied for? The Texas sun is powerful and it's UV rays will have an effect on the vinyl's life expectancy. Find out what the current cost is to replace the fabric and ask what the cost was five years ago. That may help you to estimate what the cost will be when the fabric does need replacing down the road. Pricing Diamond Brite with Pebble is the same? Here in NJ, there is a significant delta in pricing. While I like the negative edge look of a spa entirely in the pool, in this case, it seems like wasted space near the two walls. It also makes for a long reach to a spa-side controller, something I highly recommend. The iS-10 control will allow you to turn on the spa, raise and lower the pump speed and temperature, and turn on your your lights and water features. These controls, I should note, are water resistant, not water proof and should not be submerged but rather deck mounted. Why only five spa returns? An eight foot spa can easily accommodate eight and the IntelliFlo can certainly drive them with enough pressure. I would also expect the cover to rub on the other two edges when it opens and close. Auto covers depend on the water for support. They aren't drawn tight like a spring loaded safety cover. This will create a lot of additional wear on both the edge material and the cover material. The only one that will lose in that situation is you since the cover and the edge repair costs will likely come out of your pocket Scott

Ponz, Interesting quandary! We are going through the same decision right now. We are planning a pool house and pool. Our issue is not related to the budget, but the design limits of a pool fit for a cover. We absolutely want to have a slide (tacky as they may look) BTW - you should look at SR Smith - their turbo twister looks awesome. Lucky for us we can tuck the slide at the back of the yard close to the block wall where it won't be the focal point of the pool. Also, if we were limited to a rectangle shape, the pool would have to be about 25% smaller. With this in mind, we could sacrifice the Baja shelf and spa, but we want it all (of course). I have asked a lot of people about the cover. I have a sister plus several close friends that have the cover. All of the people with a cover are happy with the cover and try to talk me into putting one in, however, everyone who I've talked to that have a pool without a cover love their pool. I have also asked people who were going to put the cover on and decided not to if they regret not putting a cover on - the answer was no. What does this tell me - everybody loves their pool. Good news considering the size of investment. Some things I have considered: *The tile located under the cover (where it is rolled up when fully retracted) always seem to turn a lovely shade of slime. This has happened after a few years with each pool I've seen. What this says to me is - maintenance! It kind of grosses DH and I out - I know I would be under there with a kitchen brush on a regular basis. *After a year or two the cover ends up looking really bad. My sister's is 5 years old - which is probably the average life of a cover - and it is faded and stained where water puddles on it. Again, you can probably scrub the puddle stains off - but again - maintenance. *This may be a Las Vegas thing only, but when the pool cover is on in the summer, and you open up the pool, some spots in the pool are so hot that it is unbearable to get in. We have actually added cool water to the pool to make it swimable. *Replacement cost. It is a hard number to believe, but my sister keeps throwing out $5k as the replacement cost for her cover and says it will need to be replaced every 5-7 years. Now I know I am probably going to stir a little reaction with this post from the cover lovers. I am not totally against them; I just think there are positives and negatives. The main reason I considered the cover is for the safety issues. I have resisted getting a pool until now (my 4 children are 4-12 yrs) because drowning risk scares me to death. DH and I do not feel comfortable that a fence can prevent a drowning. We are now pretty sure we will get a pool safety net. There is a time commitment involved, but the 100% safety rating is the piece of mind I am looking for. We have absolutely decided that safety is non-negotiable, so the net will be on each day after swimming and during all breaks from swimming if a non-swimmer is in the vicinity. We made our final decision based on the feedback that we received from friends without an auto cover, personal observation, and input from kids. Nieces that are in teens wish they had a more exciting pool, always seem to be at other friends pools with slides, diving boards, spas, etc. Son practically begged us not to get a rectangle pool. On a different subject, how much do you think you will spend on the pool house? We need one as the closest bathroom in the house is through the kitchen and down the hall (all over wood floors). Also, hate the look of pool equipment in a tuff shed or scattered all over the deck. As mentioned before, land is at a premium, we can only eek out about 8'X11' for the pool house. I'm curious if you have received a price for yours and how large you are planning. Good luck with all your decisions! Kim

asharding, Sorry for my slow reply.. we had a family emergency with my Dad. Everything ok now. It’s been a rough week... Well, I wish you had it a few weeks ago too! Yes, prices can be really confusing, but you are already ahead of the game with knowing a breakdown of labor and materials! Many times you don’t even know that, but just a grand total. I have family from the Lubbock area but have not really been there for years so am not familiar with any sources there. Is your fabricator from there? Did they send you to Dallas for slab selections? Did they recommend any places to start with or give you a list of preferred slab yard(s)? Are there any local slab suppliers in your town? Wonderful inspiration picture by the way! Love the stone look and modern details but a very classic feel and very warm and inviting. And the shower with the unusual framing sections around the glass looks great! I had to look up the Ocean Blue because I was not familiar with it. Wonderful looking, but in the pictures it does look a lot like the Silver Travertine. A side note: Are you intending on having the stone tiles on the floor and the shower like your picture shows? If so, you would need to select a stone slab that would likely have tiles to match and that is generally only available in the regular stones like the vein cut Silver Travertine. Or even a regular vein cut travertine which is available in several other shades within the normal beige / cream / taupe range. But you probably prefer the cooler tones of the Silver and the Ocean Blue. If you are not trying to have the tiles be the same stone, then you would probably go with a porcelain tile and it wouldn’t be an issue. As for pricing of the Ocean Blue slabs from Arizona Tile, some slabs are just more expensive due to the rarity or exclusive nature of the stone. Most places like to have some exclusives and something different from the competition. More for us to see and drool over!! Pricing of slabs is actually very confusing. Unlike EVERY OTHER ITEM in construction and remodeling, the slab pricing and structuring is hidden. Slab yards and showrooms will only sell to and give pricing to, the fabricator. If they also carry tile, that they can give you pricing for and will directly to you. But not the slabs. That even holds true for designers, architects and builders by the way who do repeat business with them. Maybe other parts of the country operate differently. (There have been some rare exceptions and then the slab yard has to ask your fabricator permission to give you pricing, but you never really know how accurate that is). So in Dallas at least, the fabricator you select and the price they pay for the slabs are related to how much business they give the particular supplier / slab yard. I don’t think that is very well known. When asking the stone yard for their suggested fabricators, the intent is to assist the customer in completing their project with the best fabricator for the job. That list of preferred fabricators is an always current list of their top performing, least complained about, easiest to work with, best communication with and most active companies. A side benefit of this is they will receive the preferred pricing which most pass along to their customers. By the way, fabricators that have repeat customer complaints (bad seams, poor sink cutouts, etc) or have poor business practices (missed picking up slabs, poor communication, etc) do not stay on their favored list. Sometimes you may have a stone that is more delicate and takes special handling (like Honey Onyx) or may be difficult to cut and cut an edge (like some Quartzites or slate) and the salespeople at the slab yards can recommend a fabricator with recent experience for your best results. A great salesperson is your best ally. It is always important, but especially in busy times like now, to be polite and patient and you will get better service. Not everyone is and they appreciate those that are. IF YOU ARE WILLING AND HAVE THE TIME TO DO A LITTLE RESEARCH, you can find out the places your fabricator should get his best values. And conversely, you can find out the best fabricators of where your favorite slab is. And then compare the results. 1) First, ASK YOUR FABRICATOR that gave you the quote what their top stone yards are. I have no idea if they are in Lubbock what their answer will be. But ask who their main number one, two and three places are. They may be in different cities. A) Call these slab yards / slab showrooms and ask if they have the Ocean Blue slabs. It may be known in different places by different names, so you can email them some pictures and see what is most similar. (it will be fastest if you can email them right when talking on the phone with the sales person). Then ask if they have a vein cut Silver Travertine (and what other particulars like a 2cm or 3cm and polished or honed) You may want to ask what other vein cut travertine or other stones they have in stock as well. (You can ask a price range and they may give you a scale of levels or general categories, but it will not be actual prices, but might help comparatively). Most of the travertine in recent years had always been the cross cut variety, but now the linear slabs are popular again, so more of the Vein Cut slabs are becoming available. You can also ask if they have anything like that coming in. They typically have photos of their incoming stock and it can be a great advantage to know what is coming and schedule a first viewing and get first crack at the entire lot! Get the names and sizes of these slabs that interest you, photos and bundle numbers if you are really serious about some, and ask if they can either email the info to you or your fabricator, to be considered. B) Then contact your fabricator and ask for an additional quote, just for comparison’s sake, if you used the slabs from a, b and c company, using that material and how that might change the previous quote total from them. Sizes of slabs vary and will even vary within matching bundles (although book-matched slabs are almost always the exact same size) and may alter your needed quantity and if it is a difficult stone to fabricate, may increase the labor. That will give you a good indication of the price variations you can expect from your fabricator. Sometimes there are great differences and sometimes they are surprisingly similar. The pricing for the Silver Travertine from different vendors should be the easiest to compare since that is probably available from most vendors. 2) Then, or while you are waiting for answers from the above, CONTACT ARIZONA TILE (talk to their ‘Slab Desk’ department) and ask them for their top two or three fabricators. You mentioned 'finishes' in your description of tweaking the costs. If the slab is currently one finish and you want another (if Polished and you want Honed or vice versa), then you need to add that capability into your request for a fabricator. Not all fabricators have that capability. It takes a special machine. So selecting a slab that is already finished the way you want will maximize your budget. A) Call these fabricators and ask for an estimate for your details that you mentioned, giving the countertop and tub dimensions, edges, sink and tub cutouts, undermount or drop in, and any finish details. Give all of these fabricators the same details using a first choice of Ocean Blue and a second choice of the Silver Travertine, all from Arizona Tile. Tell them that you are getting several estimates. Mitered edges are relatively new and not all fabricators will have experience at doing them properly. By the way, before finalizing your selection of a fabricator, always ask to see their ACTUAL edge samples (or pictures of ACTUAL samples if you’re out of town), NOT drawings or cross sections on a page of all of their edge selections. But get a quote regardless. B) When talking to them, ask how they work and how they charge for the entire job and the details like the edging and cutouts. Email them your inspiration photo if needed or sketches of the layouts. Some will charge separately for everything. Most will have some included edges at no charge and an additional charge for more complicated edges. If they do charge for edges, it is typically charged per linear foot. If they include options, have them call that out separately. How sinks and tubs are priced are OTHER QUESTIONS TO ASK and are either drop in (with no finished edges) or undermount with a finished edge. Sometimes for the tubs, it makes a difference on price if it is rectangular (less expensive) or oval (more expensive). Also ask how they handle out of town jobs - it is trip charges (to template and install) or an increased percentage of labor. By asking about two different stones with the exact same fabrication, if they don’t itemize the quote, you can tell the difference of the stone cost by comparison. This second step will tell you the best case scenario of your preferred stone from a few different fabricators. And when you compare that to your initial fabricator, you can tell where they are in the pricing from the others. You may be very surprised at the comparisons. Your initial fabricator may be charging less for the labor and more for the stone. Arizona Tile’s preferred fabricators might be less for the stone, but may be more on labor or for travel for an out of town job. But this will give you what you need to make an informed decision. Something to keep in mind on the budget is the overall VALUE for your best results, which is more than just the cost. Don’t overlook a fabricator’s skill, experience and ease of communication. A mitered edge is exacting work and not everyone does it well. It is a relatively new edge treatment and some are not really familiar with doing it. And communication and ease of working with them are even more important if you are in different cities. For BUDGET ISSUES, with your current quote, you also mentioned asking for suggestions for cutting the labor / fabrication costs. Do you have the labor itemized so you can see where it can be tweaked? Your inspiration picture shows an undermount sink. That is a more expensive cutout than a drop in or top mounted sink. Of course the cost of a modern top mounted sink may be more expensive than a simple under mounted sink and it may be a wash on the budget, but the labor to fabricate the stone would be less. Instead of the mitered edges everywhere, you could do it just at visually noticeable places like the vanity top but on others like the vanity base, you could have a simple butt joint instead. Take a look at your vanity and the tub deck at the corners to see what edges are prominent and what are not. If it does not show, use the less expensive butt joint. Also in the photo, it appears like the shower base and top are of the slab and the floor and walls are tile. You could look at this and see if the just tile can be used. But if you are not using matching tile to the slab, that may alter the design and may not be what you want. Another MAJOR QUESTION is how you are being charged for the slabs? Are you paying for the entire slabs regardless of how much you use? If so, you might as well use up the slab(s) as much as possible since you are paying for it anyway. If you are paying for the entire slabs, if you have remnants, can you sell them or are they just yours? Are they charging per sq ft of only what you use? You need to know that to maximize your budget. Sometimes you can extend your budget by purchasing major elements ahead of time (slabs, tile (get more than you need), plumbing hardware, cabinets, cabinet hardware, lighting, sinks, tub, etc as you can afford it and wait till you have a majority of those before actually starting the project and that is easier on the budget. This does not always work out, but has for others. Of course, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and accept what you want is more expensive and you can adjust elsewhere. For example, if you are using the framed shower glass like the picture, that is less expensive then a frameless style. And using 3/8 inch thickness is less than the 1/2inch. And especially if you are going framed (which looks great with the entire look by the way), the thinner won’t be noticed. You could select a more economical shower hardware and cabinet hardware, lighting scones, etc, etc. Your choice. Also your choice if you want to go with everything you want in this room and budget in different ways or different parts of the house to get what you want here. Which ever way you choose, you have a beautiful inspiration and you will have a wonderful bathroom. I hope my answers weren’t too long winded. I was trying to give you complete information. If you need clarification on anything I have said or have additional questions, just let me know. Cindi