They look perfect to me. IIRC, you need a minimum of 7.5 ft. for lane width, so you're good there. The actual length of your steps is a matter of preference. I think if you have more than 4 or 5 people hanging out there, 12' is perfect.

you could put a simple screen in the corner to hide the pumps. the "Improvements" catalog has some nice screens. You certainly need some plants to screen them, and in those planting areas. You could also paint your "boring wall" to add some color and interest. You say you have planted many things without success. What things? Are you planting native and adapted plants, or are you trying to plant east coast things which don't do well in the climate. What do you think is causing your failures? Not a good watering system? Is there caliche under there? what? You might ask for some plant recommendations here in the Arizona Gardening forum. YV, I think "steel cactus" is . . . exactly that. Garden art made of steel in the shape of a cactus -- saguaro I presume. Lots of steel garden art in the desert.

cpartist wow that ks truly beautiful. How did you get away without having to put up a baby barrier? I thought it was mandatory? Thank you. We are retirees so no babies. We have a fence around the whole property and when we got our CO we had alarms on all windows and doors. Anyways, I love your design, and everything about your pictures. I totally see your points in regards to having a stem wall, I'm just not sure we can justify the additional cost. 3 of the pool builders we have been in contact with have told us a stem wall would increase the price by $7,500-$10,000. I honestly don't know what the price would have been without the stem wall because I never asked. Most of our friends are older and I figured it would be easier on them too if they didn't have to climb up and down stairs to get to the pool. Also with you bring in South Florida and not having a screen how do you like it? How are the bugs? I prefer not having the screen. When I go to a house with screening, I feel like I'm in a cage. However, We have no large overhanging trees and I'm also only 3 blocks from the bay and we almost always have a breeze here so the bugs haven't been bad at all. (Unless you consider the army worm caterpillar infestation we just had in our planter box. All those pretty pink flowers are now gone between what the caterpillars ate and what we pulled out. Sigh.) If I lived further east, I would have definitely done a cage because the bugs are definitely more prevalent. Thanks again!

It does not work well to start a second thread about the same project you already have a thread started for. Keep all the conversation on the other thread or it would get splintered and confusing. If you are able to delete this one, that would be the best thing to do. I left a comment for you on your other thread yesterday. Monitor it and take part in the dialogue if you want it to go.