Trailrunner, I live in Pewaukee, WI which is about 20 miles west of Milwaukee. This past winter was very long but I think I can safely say spring has sprung. I swim laps like crazy all summer. I thought I was doing good with 50 or 60 round trips but now you make me feel like a slug with your 80. We only use a pool service to open and close the pool. I do maintenance throughout the summer. We replaced the old sand filter with a cartridge system 2 years ago and the pool stays cleaner than ever. No more back washing and way less vacuuming. People are always surprised when I tell them how little work it is to keep the pool up. I would love to have pavers or stained, stamped concrete around the pool but can't justify the expense either. Found a photo of the damage that a September hailstorm did to the liner. We were actually lucky because we were planning on replacing the liner the next spring and this way our homeowners insurance covered the cost. So here is what it looked like. This photo ( with my son acting a little bit goofy) shows that the previous liner was a bit lighter than the current one. Our pool gets full sun until late in the day. Maybe I should have picked an even darker liner. I didn't think they would make the water that much warmer. Oh well, I hope this liner is good for the next ten years.

This can't be evaluated properly at a distance because there's no guaranty that anyone's monitor is going to reproduce true colors. You can only get estimates. I would go with grout that most closely matches the tile that's being grouted. With different tiles colors you have to pick your poison.

Niki- make sure that you double check that the color you like is rated for pools (they have a list). And if you can get about 6 pieces of the color to see the variation, id recommend it. Green looks AMAZING in pools. i wanted green or white. Blue came because of the price, I needed a ton of tile for the bond beam so I only had 2 options. I’m happy with it though. It’s very pretty. The other tile I used in my yard was a black and white from Arto. I have a built in bench above the pool where I added the tile. It’s a weird combo that just sorta works. We are now planting and finishing up the bench. Hope to one day be done to post pictures of the whole yard. We also did a fire pit area and a large outdoor bar. I posted some video and pictures on an Instagram account named “decoratingbynumbers”.

Aw man, thanks for the comments guys! After being in this house with small kids for eight years, the cabinets are showing wear and there is quite a bit of water damage on many of them and some are broken (didn’t show you that photo!). So...that was where my head was at with going ahead and painting the cabinets. They are already priming today so this is a done deal! In my area, painting cabs is still a big thing (we might steer behind the times a little) and a big thing people look for in resale (we could be moving in a couple years). Honestly, it might not be trendy but I still love my granite! It hides stuff so well and never looks dirty. And I never even notice my backsplash and I just don’t care that much about it. It’s hard for me to warrant changing something just for cosmetic reasons (counter and backsplash) versus need (cabs). We got an amazing deal on the painting so I feel good about it. I’m going full steam with Antique White. After looking at it forever and being in complete decision making paralysis, that’s what I’m going with! I’m going with brass/gold knobs to add a little bit of funky and I have lots of Anthropologie-esque and plants to add character. I have a very open floor plan with my living room right there in all it’s colorful glory, so I’m thinking the lighter will look nice. I’ll be happy to post a pic when I’m done. Thanks for listening!!