Plunge Pool Design Ideas and Photos for Small Backyards

Small pools, big impact — sizing, siting, ledges, water colour and surrounds that make a plunge pool the feature of a courtyard garden. A plunge pool is the most efficient luxury available in a small garden. At around six by two and a half metres it fits along a boundary, costs a fraction of a full pool to build and run, heats quickly, and delivers the two things people actually want most days: somewhere to cool off and a sheet of moving light in the middle of the garden. Lap swimming is the only thing it gives up. Siting is the whole design. Push the pool hard against one boundary so the remaining space stays usable, align its long edge with the house so it reads as architecture rather than an object dropped in, and keep the surround wide on the side you will actually sit. A full width bench ledge at the shallow end gives adults somewhere to sit in the water and children somewhere to stand, and it is the single most used feature of any small pool. Water colour comes from the interior finish, not the water. A pale grey or white interior gives bright resort blue,...

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Beach House Designs

Dune-Side Beach House Design with Bleached Timber Battens and Wide Ocean-View Deck, Outdoor Shower

Dune-Side Beach House Design with Bleached Timber Battens, Pale Render and Black Framed Glazing, Clipped Hedging, Feature Palms and Pale. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com — Dune-Side Beach House Design with Bleached Timber Battens, Pale Render and Black Framed Glazing, Clipped Hedging, Feature Palms and Pale Pebble Borders, featuring a Wide Ocean-View Deck, Outdoor Shower and Relaxed Lounge Setting, balanced by Clean Sightlines, Shaded Retreats

Hamptons 06 is part of our Beach House Designs collection — one of 57 large-format widescreen concept visuals in this section. It is presented here at full size so you can study the layout, the planting, the surfaces and the way light falls across the design before you commit to building anything on your own block.

Classic and modern coastal homes, dune gardens, decks and ocean-front living. Use this concept as a starting point: note the proportions between built form and greenery, where shade and shelter sit, how paths and paved areas move people through the space, and which materials repeat to hold the whole scheme together.

Every visual on this site is a design idea created for Home Design Photos. Browse the rest of the Beach House Designs collection, or open the complete image catalogue to see every home, garden, pool, pergola, furniture, lighting and beach house concept in one place.

← Modern Ocean-Front Home Design with Limewashed Timber and Plunge Pool, Shaded Cabana and Boardwalk

More Beach House Designs concepts

Modern Ocean-Front Home Design with Limewashed Timber and Plunge Pool, Shaded Cabana and Boardwalk

Modern Ocean-Front Home Design with Limewashed Timber, Charcoal Roofing and Glass Balustrades, Frangipani, Agapanthus and Soft Silver Coastal Foliage, featuring a Plunge Pool, Shaded Cabana and Boardwalk Approach, with Considered Outdoor Zoning and Soft Layered Textures Throughout

Coastal Beach House Design with Shiplap Boarding, Sandy Stone Paving and Woven Cane Detailing, Sea Grasses, Pigface and Low Sculptural. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

Coastal Beach House Design with Shiplap Boarding and Sheltered Alfresco Dining Terrace and Sun

Coastal Beach House Design with Shiplap Boarding, Sandy Stone Paving and Woven Cane Detailing, Sea Grasses, Pigface and Low Sculptural Shrubs, featuring a Sheltered Alfresco Dining Terrace and Sun Lounge Zone, complemented by Durable Weatherproof Finishes and Low-Maintenance Detailing

Hamptons-Style Beach House Design with Silvered Hardwood Screens and Beach Access Path, Firepit Circle

Hamptons-Style Beach House Design with Silvered Hardwood Screens, Off-White Render and Bronze Fittings, Coastal Banksias, Spinifex Grasses and Windswept Dune Planting, featuring a Beach Access Path, Firepit Circle and Evening Deck Lighting, finished with Sculptural Feature Planting and Inviting

Hamptons-Style Beach House Design with Silvered Hardwood Screens and Beach Access Path, Firepit Circle

Dune-Side Beach House Design with Bleached Timber Battens and Wide Ocean-View Deck, Outdoor Shower

Dune-Side Beach House Design with Bleached Timber Battens, Pale Render and Black Framed Glazing, Clipped Hedging, Feature Palms and Pale Pebble Borders, featuring a Wide Ocean-View Deck, Outdoor Shower and Relaxed Lounge Setting, balanced by Clean Sightlines, Shaded Retreats

Coastal Beach House Design with Shiplap Boarding and Sheltered Alfresco Dining Terrace and Sun

Complete image catalogue

Louvred Pergola and Patio Roof Design Ideas and Photos

Opening roof systems that give shade, rain cover and winter sun on demand — spans, posts, drainage, screens and the details that matter.

A louvred roof solves the fundamental contradiction of outdoor living: you want shade in February and sunlight in July, cover when it rains and open sky when it does not. Rotating aluminium blades give all of those from one structure, closing to shed water into concealed gutters and opening to let winter sun into the rooms behind. It is the reason opening roofs have largely replaced fixed patios on the sunny side of the house.

Structure comes before styling. Blade span, beam depth and post size are all determined by wind loading and roof area, and an under engineered system rattles and sags within a few seasons. Posts should land on properly sized footings, be positioned to leave clean sight lines from the living room, and where possible be set slightly in from the corners so the roof appears to float. Drainage must be designed, not assumed — closed blades collect a lot of water and it has to go somewhere.

Comfort features are best built in rather than added. Integrated LED lighting in the beams, radiant heaters on the underside, ceiling fans for humid nights, retractable side screens for wind and low sun, and a power outlet at post height for a lamp or speaker. Because the frame is hollow, all of this can be wired invisibly if it is specified before installation, which is the argument for planning the fit out at the same time as the roof.

Pergolas & Patios design ideas photo from the Louvred Pergola and Patio Roof Design Ideas and Photos feature. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

Finish and integration decide whether it looks original to the house. Match the frame colour to the window frames, keep the fascia line aligned with the eave or a window head, and continue the interior floor material out beneath it so the covered area reads as a room. Add planting against at least one edge — a climber on a wire, tall pots, a hedge — and the structure stops looking like a product and starts looking like architecture.

House Design Photos is a HUGE Library Gallery and Directory of Home Design Photos

Plunge Pool Design Ideas and Photos for Small Backyards

Dune-Side Beach House Design with Bleached Timber Battens and Wide Ocean-View Deck, Outdoor Shower

More Beach House Designs concepts

Louvred Pergola and Patio Roof Design Ideas and Photos