OPULENT
PRIVATE POOLS
•
BY BARBARA PASH
nce, swimming pools
seemed the domain of
Hollywood movie stars
and the super wealthy. To-
day, new design trends, new
technology and the fitness pheno-
menon have brought pools into
everyone's backyard.
According to Elizabeth Nelson of the
National Spa and Pool Institute (NSPI),
an Alexandria, Va.-based association
42
HOME
of the pool, spa and hot tub industry,
there are more than three million
residential inground pools in the
United States. California leads the
country with more than 600,000 pools,
followed by Florida with more than
500,000. Michigan has about 70,000
such pools.
Pools can be geometric (rectangles
and squares are the simplest) or free-
form (the kidney shape is the best
A terraced
outdoor pool
has been made
part of the
natural
woodland
setting. The
flagstone wall
shields
swimmers from
xriew.