Photography by Michael Woodall Water flows over the sides of the spa and into a catch basin below. Adjacent to the spa is a matching infinity-edge pool; both water features were designed to resemble cisterns for livestock. A stacked-stone fireplace constructed at the back of the patio is in the same location as the original pool. Palo verde trees and ocotillos at the edge of the property provide a natural transition to the desert beyond.

A problem pool gets a Western-style overhaul

Cave Creek, Ariz., residents Bob and Carolyn Voris say there were several reasons for replacing their dated rectangular diving pool with attached spa: It was in the wrong location. You couldn’t see it from the house. It was situated at a lower level than the patio, and rainwater drained into it, making it difficult to maintain. The concrete decking around the pool was cracked. And it was uninteresting. But most importantly, it didn’t fit the cowboy theme of the couple’s newly renovated home.

“I asked myself, ‘What did cowboys have to have that was like a pool?’” Bob recalls. “The answer was water tanks for livestock.” He explained his idea to landscape designer Terry Jones of Xiascapes, who filled in the old pool/spa and re-created the entire space.

Says Jones: “The vision was to make the spa appear to be a natural spring-fed cistern dumping water into a lower, larger cistern that is the pool.”

THE DESIGN
A circular negative-edge saltwater pool and spa were constructed closer to the house so they could be viewed through several windows. The spa—accessed by wide curving steps—is situated slightly above the pool and connected to it by boulders. Water cascades down these rocks and into the pool, simulating a natural spring that might feed a cistern, Bob explains. The water then flows over the pool’s disappearing edge.

THE MATERIALS
For the pool’s spill wall, the homeowners chose ceramic tile in a palo verde green tone that reminds them of patinaed copper. Tumbled pavers in warm browns were used for the multilevel decking, and surface-select flagstone complements the surrounding hardscape. The Black Pearl Pebble Tec finish on the interior of the pool and spa mimics the colors of Black Mountain, visible in the distance.

Surfaced in black Pebble Tec®, the saltwater pool and spa have a “deep, rich, almost mysterious quality to them, like one would find in a stock tank,” says homeowner Bob Voris. The front of the pool was edged with stacked moss rock flagstone and a wide moss rock cap. Tumbled brown pavers and pool tile in a watercolor green blend with the desert vegetation.