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Pool House Progress

If you remember waaaay back when we started this journey, I told you this house actually had property across the street with a pool. It also had a dilapidated pool house/barn/garage/loft structurey thing. You can check out this post here for more details, but I’ll just remind you a minute. It’s in pretty rough shape.

Old Pool house

There is a LOT of work to be done back here, and part of the reason I haven’t been blogging as much the last 2 weeks is because I have been tackling it head on. We painted the whole pool house to match our siding and trim. I had the paint color matched at my favorite local paint store Mullers Paint Store in Caledonia. This is totally not a sponsored post – they are just super helpful and knowledgable there and I love to support local businesses. They matched the color perfectly and gave me ton of advice on how to scrape all the peeling paint and fix this up. If you are local, definitely check them out. Here’s how it looks now:

A house with trees in the background

Still not perfect, but SO much better! The darker color really helped the cinderblock disappear (we do hope to side it someday). It’s getting a new roof and soffits in a week or two and I also need to hang up those shutters (I have a pair for the other window too). Window boxes are also part of my plan to detract from that weird wooden box that has part of the pool pipes in it. We can’t remove it, but I hope to build a better looking bench type thing down the road.

This is kind of our band-aid on the situation for now, but eventually we would like to put new windows in, redo the bathroom inside and insulate and finish the loft space above. That barn door is rotting (clearly), so painting it is my fix for now (because white paint makes everything better), but eventually we would like to put a large sliding glass door there with a faux balcony kind of thing. That’s all definitely down the road a few years. We want to live in the house a while and see how we actually use this space across the street before we make any major decisions over here.

The other major change we made was putting up a new fence. I’m still kind of amazed the Mr. and I managed this all by ourselves in one weekend! Here is the old fence –

A wood fence falling down

A wooden fence broken down

When we leaned on most of the panels they actually fell right over, not to mention they were filled with old screws and nails sticking out at all angles. Completely safe and kid friendly…

A pool next to a fence

Luckily the actual posts were all still in really good shape, so we were able to remove all of the old panels and just screw new fence panels right to the existing fence posts. We only had to dig about 5 new posts. It’s so much better now! I still want to stain it all, but they told me at the paint store not to stain it until after it’s been exposed to the weather for a bit.

A pool next to a fence

We’ve been working on cleaning up the landscaping over here too. We replaced all of the stone by the pool and I basically can’t move my arms anymore. Not to mention my legs look like I’ve been attacked by a swarm of tracker jackers (Hunger games anyone?) from tipping over the wheelbarrow. I added these little boxwoods along the fence and I have new lounge chairs ordered. Obviously, opening the pool will be a huge improvement too vs. the old ripped pool cover, but we are waiting until after the roof is replaced so we don’t get a lot of construction debris in the pool.

Pool fence

I also planted a bunch of hydrangeas in the back corner there and we have plans to add beach grass too. Our landscaper did a whole plan for over here that we will eventually do, but it is super involved with new hardscape around the pool, the fence in a different shape and an outdoor bar etc. it’s on the 5 year+ plan, but for now, I wanted this area to look a little more presentable.

Oh, and huge tip – I painted the chainlink fence back there black. How much better does that look!?! Our property extends into those woods, and we wanted to be able to see our kids running around back there so that’s why we didn’t replace the chainlink with wood. Ignore all of the black plastic landscaping trim scattered around that I still need to replace.

A tree by a fence

The new fence also looks great from the house now too. This is the view from the front porch, which will look a lot nicer once I finish spreading the rest of that pile of stone and once the tool trailer is gone. This is also the view from the breakfast nook and our master bath windows, so replacing that fence was a huge improvement.

My big project this weekend is this structure at the end of the pool, I think I’ve dubbed it “the cabana” or at least that’s what I want it to feel like when it’s done. I removed all of the broken lattice that was on the back and I have plans to power wash and stain it. I also bought navy striped outdoor panels to hang from it. I’m thinking some ferns, a rug, cute outdoor lights and it will basically be Margaritaville ;) Cross your fingers it looks as good in reality as it does in my head!

Wood pool cabana

They are finishing up laying the wood floor in the house (squeal!), so I haven’t been able to get great progress shots this week on the inside. Next week, I’m hoping to show all of the finished flooring down. I have gotten lots of questions about flooring, so answers coming soon!

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21 Comments

  1. Wow! It’s been a lot of hard work, obviously. But when you’re done it will be perfect! My husband and I just finished with the renovation of our back yard – we turned the garden shed into a small pool house, cleaned the patio and reinstalled half of the fence. It looks much better now, I’m so glad we did all that work. Good luck with the rest of your plans and work :)

  2. The transformation looks amazing. Did you consider leaving the wood above the windows natural? It kind of reminds me of your breakfast nook beams…love that natural look.

  3. Any details on the process of painting the chain link fence? I would like to do something similar, spray paint? How many cans? etc.

    Thanks!

    1. I spray painted, but I wouldn’t recommend I went thru 6 cans of paint. I googled it later and there is paint you can roll on that would work better!

  4. Love the fence, so much better! and the Pool house. The Cabanna could be so cool! We built a smaller type struture at our old house. We loved it. I designed a swinging hanging bed, Had the idea in my head 18 years ago and never saw one like it. Now they are more common. Ill find pics to send you. It used a futon mattress and was so comfortable to take naps on because you could make it swing. Be sure and get Hanging curtains that wont Mildew. I put plain ones from Bed Bath and Beyond and they started getting brown spots on them. Sunbrella fabris is made for out doors. love all your choices! Going to gorgeous!!! Always enjoy seeing your ideas. you have the best Ideas. Also I think that what we call in texas “POTATOE VINE” would look great against your dark paint colors. Its a limey green leafy plant that grows fast and spills over and is pretty lime green. Anyway, Youre the designer, just throwing you my two cents . Thanks for sharing with us!

    1. oh a swinging bed sounds amazing! I did potato vine one year and it took over my window boxes but I did try a similar colored plant called creeping jenny this year, crossing my fingers it doesn’t dominate like the other vine. Thanks of the suggestion!

  5. Such a huge improvement! All your hard work is really paying off. It all looks great!!

  6. I love everything you have done so far. I can’t wait to see the “cabana” finished. I’m sure that will be my favorite part of the whole pool project.

  7. I think I saw your pool house smiling back at you. The new fence makes a world of difference too.

  8. You are a worker bee! I am going to love reading about the progress on this pool house as much as the new house!
    Very fun to see the progress!
    DIAnne in NC

  9. Looks great. What a sweet blessing for you all! What great memories you will make in your new family home. Our pool has created so many amazing fun memories. Wednesday was our first pool party for the season and I was so happy to see it full of smiling happy faces. I bet you can hardly wait after a long winter. Bless you all!!!

  10. Everything looks beautiful!
    How did you paint your chain link fence and what kind of paint did you use?

  11. Wow!!! Like they say – “the power of paint”. It looks amazing already!

  12. Are you going with engineered hard wood or wood effect tile in the kitchen family? I am redoing my kitchen and the flooring is causing me the most problem ?

    1. I have wood in my kitchen/entry/powder room and love it. It’s easy to stand on and water has not been an issue. Ours was not pre-finished so was finished in place after it was laid. I think we had a polyurethane finish considering it’s area. It’s 10 years old, performed well during my kids’ teens and college years, and is just now starting to show its age.

  13. You amaze me with how much you get done and I. Such a tasteful and classy way!

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