Pool Deck and Outdoor Living

Outdoor stone has to survive an Oklahoma year, which rules out a good deal of what looks fine in a showroom. This job pairs a stacked stone column and raised wall with cut coping running the length of the pool and a broad deck beyond it, all of it in materials chosen to take full sun in July and a freeze in January without spalling or fading.

The detail that makes it work is the coping. It is what your hands and feet actually touch, it has to shed water away from the pool rather than into it, and the edge profile has to be comfortable to sit on. Get that right and the rest of the deck can be quiet.