I know it may seem like we have a lot going on, but we have been working on this project for almost a year. No seriously, we started the conversation with the pool company last fall, signed our contract in early January and we just got a hole in the ground last week! It has been a process for sure, but we are excited to see some light at the end of this tunnel.

So, let's start at the beginning. When we found/purchased this house I really liked the idea of this being our "forever" or at least our "for a very very long time house". It's big enough for us to grow into, the location is perfect and it has everything we could want in a house with the exception of....a pool. Obviously a pool is not something we need but it is something we, and especially Brent really envisioned for his "for a long long time house". But we could add a pool one day, right? Well, I thought so, but Brent wasn't so sure. Our lot is kind of interesting, size wise so he had his doubts.

Our house sits on two lots. The original portion of our house was built in 1920. Back in 2007 the house behind ours was knocked down and the people did a big addition to our house. So, we have two driveways and one long, but somewhat narrow back yard with the foundation from the house that was torn down in our backyard. In fact this foundation is what our Outdoor Kitchen/Pizza Oven sits on. Remember that project? Yeah...it kind of took a back-burner position on the priority list when the idea of the pool became a real conversation.

One day late last summer we were looking at our backyard and talking through options for what we could do to finish it off. I brought up the pool and we actually gave it a hard look and took dimensions, etc. to find that it looked like we did have enough room to add one. So, we researched pool companies and landed on Hilltop Pools. The company sent out pool designer, Anthony Longshore, who came to our house, took dimensions and notes and then drew out our pool on the computer right before our eyes. In doing so he was able to provide a quote that very day. We had a lot to think about, so Brent opened up SketchUp and did a more detailed drawing, all his own. Doing this really helped us play with details, not only pool specific but landscape related as well. Here is where we landed:

What you are looking at here is a hot tub, sitting just beyond the pizza oven and water falling into a  10 foot wide x 30 feet long pool. The pool will sit right beside the existing fence. It's planned to be 42" deep all the way across except for a shallow tanning deck at the far end.

OK, so seems simple enough, right, so why did it take almost 9 months from contract to dig? Two words: Setback Variance. We live in the city of Atlanta, and in our district the minimum set back from the lot line is 7 feet.Well,  the layout of the backyard made it pretty much impossible to start the pool 7+ feet from our lot-line without stepping right into it from our back steps. In addition the existing fence + old house foundation (our patio) were already over that set-back and kind of pre-determined where the pool needed to be. Sooooo we applied for a set-back variance, i.e. permission to have an exception made so that we could place the pool where we needed/wanted it to go. This process consisted of presenting and getting approval from:

• Neighborhood Association
• NPU (had to do this one twice)
• City of Atlanta Zoning Board down at City Hall. 

We were also encouraged to get neighbor signatures. Phew, It makes me exhausted just thinking about it. But, we got through it and were awarded the variance approval. This was first week of May. Since then, we have been going through the regular permitting process which required nothing of us, but did take time. Finally, about two weeks ago we were given our "dig day" and last Tuesday the bulldozers showed up and got busy.

By the end of day one the hole was dug and Croix could not of been more excited to watch the "machines" do all that work.

Now that things have started we are rolling right along. The guys were out for 3 straight days and now we have the plumbing run, the re bar is in and the pool equipment is hooked up! It's really starting to look like a pool and we couldn't be more excited!
The lead time is around 8 weeks, so I will keep you all updated as things continue to progress. Through this process we will also be finishing off the Outdoor Kitchen (finally!!) + re-landscaping the back yard. The vision - a modern English garden, but more on that later...

All photos are my own.