For anyone out there looking for ideas on a small pool. Go to the blog "Our New Pool Build in Jacksonville, FL" We call it a Spool or Social Pool. It is approx 10 X 20 and it will be fully screened in. The wife designed it and it will have a water fall, bubbler and 2 external boxes for statues spouting water. It is 3.5ft to 4.5ft and have 2 seating / lounging areas. We went this route because we like entertaining and did not care to be swimming and diving, just hanging out. Take a look and let me know your thoughts. Thanks

Don't know if the "md" part of your screen name means you're in MD, but when we lived in MD, a "free" landscaping consultation was a person coming by to say, "Yeah, you could put some kind of planting area over here, maybe a path going through here, etc." Usually, this "free" consultation could only be scheduled 2-3 months out. There was one company out there who also charged just $25 for a consultation, but it was the same, general overview, nothing specific - that would cost a whole lot "extra." Now, if they thought you might actually go through with a plan, they'd draw it all up for you for a $500 fee, applicable to their work, should you decide to go with the plan in its entirety at mega-bucks...all of this is very, very similar to what you encountered. I always thought the $500 fee was to weed out those who just wanted a few ideas and would then go DIY. Also, in metro-MD/DC, ANY company spends a huge amount of time on the road going from place to place, as the traffic is horrendous. Now that we're in a smaller city in TX, there was 1 company in town who had the same $500 consultation fee if I wanted anything specific or drawn up. And...they were booked at least 8 weeks out to even get the consultation. We ended up finding a much more accomodating company who saw us the very next week, drew up plans for less than $100 and gave us the option of DIY with their whole-hearted support, or they could also do the full installation (landscape only, no sprinklers) for a reasonable amount, IMO. I'm with kurtv, get the plans to your liking for the $500 and then re-evaluate.

Thanks for the compliments. DH is really excited about the Pool House as he teaches tennis on the court in our back yard and we can use it for his home office and his clients to change clothes & a restroom. Will be really nice this summer to have shade when the kids get hot from the tennis lessons not to mention for our enjoyment. To answer your follow up questions: The cool light (I love it, isn't it the bomb) came from our local Z Gallerie store. Total impulse buy. The outdoor curtains & curtain rods are from Pottery Barn that they have now. I bought them online. Easy to isntall. Learned to use a drill while putting them up! It's the outdoor grommet curtain & outdoor rods (size extra long). I used the pole top ones that are the same color inside (those are discontinued). They wipe right clean & match the PB outdoor cushions & umbrellas I got. I had the best time doing the shopping for accessories the day we finished. It was like an episode of Extreme Home Makeover... I had to hurry and finish it all before our guest arrived, so i did a whirlwind run tour of local shops including Pottery Barn, Z Gallerie, Pier One, etc where I got it all. I had browsed online a lot and kind of knew what I wanted. It's a lot more funky than my normal traditional tastes with antiques and such which made it even more fun b/c it was a lot less expensive to make over. Still need to art on the walls & do the floors but, it's almost there. Other sources for furniture & accessories were: Barstools - online www.westelm.com Futon frame & cover - www.westelm.com Throw Pillows on Futon - Pottery Barn High back chairs - local Z Gallerie (talked them into selling me the floor models since they were discontinued) The larger lamp - Z Gallerie (also a floor model which was damaged & I got a discount) Rug - Pottery Barn Candle lantern - Pottery Barn Occasional Chair - Pier One Fruit Tray - Z Gallerie Bathroom which I don't think I showed has a new vanity from Lowe's that was featured in BH&G magazine & looks a lot like the 4X more expensive one that Pottery Barn has.

I have an endless pool (well it's in storage now because we took it out of the house we were living in and we've not constructed the room it's going back in). In our previous house it was just sitting on the basement floor. I built steps to get up to it. We're probably going to build a deck around it when we reinstall it. The problem with the pool-spa is that if you're actually going to swim in it, you probably don't want to keep it as warm as you'd like to keep your spa. We already had the spa, so we really didn't need to go there. I think that our EP cost us about $19K all told (pool, the solid surface coping, mechanicals, manual cover like the one in the picture above). If you're going to put this inside, you do want the cover. It comes with one about the consistency of bubble wrap that you throw on top, but the roller cover is much better. Keeps the pool humidity from condensing all over the place. I installed it myself. The only task that I needed help was to push the assembled side panels up against the wall (mine was in a corner). I had a few coworkers come over for a beer. It took us about five minutes.