A new level: a designer uses a multilevel deck and oversized spa to open up a small space

It began with a challenge. Greg Perry's challenge was to design an elegant, yet casual, spa for the small front courtyard of Sally Salner's Houston townhouse.

When Perry and builder Steve Wilson were finished, Salner had her private hideaway. And Wilson's Star Pools Inc. of Houston had a Gold NSPI International Award of Excellence in the concrete spas category.

A retired interior designer herself, Salner knew the look and finishes she wanted. "I wanted a dark-bottom pool, natural stone and waterfeatures," remembers Salner. "I wanted something simple."

The two creative minds apparently clicked. The design that became the award-winning spa "was the only design I showed her," Perry says.

Gaining interest

Perry's design included more than the 10-by-12-foot spa with four T jets. Salner's approximately 35-by-40-foot courtyard also features a two-level terrace that sits between the spa and the house--an upper level for tables, and a smaller lower level for lounge chairs. The lower terrace actually sits below the level of the spa.

"I wanted to create a raised beam effect from the lower terrace," Perry says. "The multiple levels give her more interest."

From the terraces, attention is drawn to a large bubbling urn, the spa's commanding feature. It's also a deliberate "casual edge" in a project that mixes extemporaneous and elegant. "That Tuscany look is very popular around here, and I wanted some Old World feel for this project," Perry says.

The urn wasn't the sort of waterfeature Salner had in mind. "He kind of had to talk me into that," she says. "I thought I wouldn't like it, but now I think it's great."

Typically, Perry would select a terra cotta urn for such a setting. But "nothing else on the patio was terra cotta." Instead, he selected a ceramic glaze urn from Ananese Pottery of Louisiana. The rich "aqua teal"-colored um bubbles water onto a bed of black rock, which Perry says he chose "just to add some texture on the shelf." The urn and rock combination is perhaps the most striking of several dark/light contrasts in the finished courtyard.

The black stones are medium-size beach rock, says Wilson, "scooped off a beach in Mexico."

Washing over the black rock shelf, water spills into the concrete spa. Salner's "dark-colored bottom" for the vessel is actually a dark gray, says Wilson. The look came from a custom plaster mix that includes both black and blue pigments.

Around the sides of the spa is natural limestone, custom-cut at the site. "We usually use a lot of natural slate products in our pools," Wilson says. "We think it's a nicer look than glazed tile. It gives the pool a little more interest." Limestone also forms the treads of the steps leading into the spa.

Contrasting with the dark limestone is the lighter deck: buff-colored concrete with a stamped pattern. Perry says the contrasting darks and lights are intentional, "with the darker finishes on the vertical surfaces playing off the light horizontal coping and caps."

Finally, a sheer waterfall drops over the back wall of the spa, adding one more water-feature to the mix. (Perry's design originally called for a second waterfall on the long, adjacent wall. Budget concerns eliminated it.)

The surroundings

Because the spa sits in a front courtyard that is up against the street, privacy was a big issue, says Perry. And Salner wanted a tropical mix to the plantings, which Perry also designed.

"I wanted a little tropical enclave out there, a place to get away," Salner says.

What the client did not want was a canopy of trees overhanging the spa, says Perry. That led him to include a few small palms within the area, bordered by a 6-foot privacy hedge. The featured planting is a 10-foot mule palm, a sterile hybrid palm with wine-colored barking.

"We were shopping for trees," Salner says, "and I saw it and liked it. I liked the shape of it: It's graceful and different."

Adds Wilson, "It's a specimen tree that sets the tone for the rest of the area." Around the tree went "mature, large plantings that instantly make it look like it's been there t or years. Lush plantings make all the difference."

Working in harmony

Wilson says it was the small size of the courtyard that made this project more difficult than some. "A small space is harder to work with than it is when you have a little more expanse. Being a small area also makes it a bit tougher to get equipment into the area."

That said, Wilson quickly adds that the Salner project "was not quite as challenging as most we work on."

Even so, a careful design makes the spa a classic standout. Perry attributes much of the spa's aesthetic appeal to the different levels and the way they work together to form an interesting whole.

"I'm pretty much pleased with everything," says homeowner Salner. After the project's completion, she added a couple more palm trees to make the space more private. Looking back, she says she should have "put in some more spa jets, which I decided not to do at the time. And I would have preferred natural stone on the deck, as well. I think it's more interesting."

But those are small matters, she says. "I like the contemporary look of the courtyard. It's a small space, and I didn't want to clutter it with too much. It flows very nicely from the inside of the house."

From his perspective, Wilson believes the project's success comes from the synergy of its various parts. "It's the uniqueness of combining several water elements within a small area. And I think the bubble urn spilling onto the black pebbles is an especially nice touch."

A smaller area to work in doesn't reduce the expectations for a project, says Wilson. "The client spent as much on this small spa as most people do on a larger pool. But the small ones sometimes end up looking nicer than the larger ones do."

The Salner project is fairly typical for Star Pools, Wilson's 10-year-old company, which does only custom projects.

"We don't ever do two pools alike," he says. From a family of home builders, his education was in the fine arts, namely, painting and sculpting. But after building a home for a pool designer, Wilson realized "pools pay better than painting and sculpting" and he changed fields--but not necessarily motivations. He says he looks at pools as "backyard sculptures."

Besides the NSPI award, the Salner project has benefited Star Pools in a more substantial way, says Wilson. "We do very little advertising; we work mostly on referral. And that spa's been responsible for referring five or six other projects to us since we put it in."

Wilson is hoping for yet another, as well. It seems Sally Salner is buying a bigger home. And she'll be wanting a new pool for it.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Hanley-Wood, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group