Pools & Spas

Pool & Backyard Design — See the Vision Before You Build It

A pool isn't just a hole in the ground. It's the centerpiece of everything that happens around it.

A great backyard pool project isn’t really about the pool. It’s about the whole picture — the hardscape that surrounds it, the covered cabana where wet kids towel off and adults settle in with a drink, the outdoor kitchen that means nobody has to go inside, the fire feature that extends the evening long after the swimming stops, the way all of it connects back to the house in a way that feels designed rather than assembled.

That whole picture is what we design.

Pool design is a new service area for Candid Home Design, and we’re bringing to it the same approach we bring to every project: thoughtful spatial planning, honest collaboration with the right specialists, and the ability to show you — through detailed renderings — exactly what your finished backyard could look like before a single shovel hits the ground.

We design the space. The layout, the hardscape, the structures, the water features, the integration with your home and your existing or planned outdoor living areas. For the plant and landscape expertise, we connect you with landscape designers we trust — or lean on your pool builder’s team — so every element of your backyard is handled by someone who genuinely knows it. That division of expertise is intentional. It’s how you get the best result across the whole project.

What Candid Home Design Brings to a Pool Project

Most pool projects start with the pool company. You describe what you want, they lay out a pool shape, and everything else gets figured out around it. The result often looks exactly like that — a pool with other things arranged around it, rather than a backyard designed as a cohesive whole.

We start from the opposite direction. Before the pool shape is finalized, we look at the whole backyard — your home’s footprint, the existing outdoor areas, the grade, the views, the way people move through the space — and design a layout that makes everything work together. The pool is positioned for the best relationship with the house and the sun. The hardscape is planned to flow naturally between zones. The cabana or pool house is sited where it serves the space rather than where it happened to fit. The water features and live edges are considered as design elements, not add-ons.

Then we render it. Not a rough sketch, not a builder’s diagram — a detailed visual that shows you what your finished backyard will actually look like, so you can feel confident in every decision before construction begins.

What We Design

Pool Footprint and Hardscape Planning

The shape, size, and position of a pool determines everything about how the surrounding space works. A pool set too close to the house limits your hardscape options. A pool oriented the wrong direction means you’re swimming into the afternoon sun. A pool that doesn’t account for the grade creates drainage problems that follow you for the life of the property.

We design the pool footprint in relationship to everything around it — the house, the outdoor living areas, the property lines, the natural grade — and plan the hardscape that ties it all together. Paver or concrete pool decking, transitions between wet and dry zones, steps and entries, coping details, and the way hardscape connects the pool area to adjacent patios, decks, and outdoor rooms are all part of the design scope.

Water Features and Custom Pool Elements

A well-designed pool is more than a rectangle of water. Water features — spillways, waterfalls, bubblers, deck jets, vanishing edges, live-edge transitions — transform a pool from a functional amenity into something genuinely beautiful. These elements are most effective when they’re designed into the pool from the start rather than added as afterthoughts, because their position, scale, and relationship to the surrounding hardscape all affect how they read in the finished space.

We design water features and custom pool elements as integrated parts of the overall backyard composition. The vanishing edge that creates a seamless visual connection to the yard beyond. The waterfall feature that serves as a focal point from the covered outdoor room. The tanning ledge that transitions naturally into the surrounding hardscape. These are spatial and design decisions — and they’re exactly what we’re here to help with.

Pool Houses, Cabanas, and Entertaining Structures

A truly great pool project often includes more than the pool itself. A pool house or cabana — with a bathroom, changing area, outdoor shower, and covered lounge space — elevates the experience of the entire backyard and makes the pool genuinely usable as a destination rather than just a feature. A detached entertaining structure near the pool, complete with an outdoor kitchen, bar, and covered seating, turns your backyard into the place every gathering ends up.

These structures are where our building design expertise is most directly in play. Pool houses, cabanas, detached garages with guest suites, and standalone entertaining pavilions are real buildings — with foundations, framing, rooflines, and mechanical systems — and they need to be designed correctly to be built correctly. We design them to be architecturally cohesive with your home, functionally suited to how the space will be used, and permitted and documented properly for construction.

For larger custom pool projects, a well-designed pool house or entertaining structure isn’t a luxury — it’s the feature that makes everything else make sense. We love designing these. It’s exactly the kind of project that plays to our strengths.

Integration With Existing Outdoor Living Areas

If you already have a deck, patio, or outdoor living space — or if one is being designed alongside the pool — the connection between those areas is one of the most important design decisions in the whole project. A pool that feels disconnected from the rest of the outdoor living space is a pool that gets used in isolation. A pool that flows naturally from the covered outdoor room, the outdoor kitchen, and the main entry from the house becomes the anchor of an entire outdoor lifestyle.

We design that integration deliberately — ensuring that circulation between zones is natural, that levels and transitions are handled gracefully, and that the overall backyard reads as a unified composition rather than a collection of separate projects that happened to end up in the same yard.

Smaller Pool Projects — Above-Ground and Pre-Fabricated

Not every pool project is a custom in-ground build. Above-ground pools, pre-fabricated plunge pools, and smaller modular pool systems are all legitimate and increasingly popular options — and they all benefit from the same design thinking, even if the scale is different.

For smaller pool projects, we focus on integration: how the pool relates to your existing outdoor space, what hardscape surrounds it, how the deck or platform that frames it is designed, and how the whole area ties back to the rest of your yard and home. A well-designed above-ground pool area looks intentional. An undesigned one looks exactly like what it is. We help you get to the former.

See It Before You Build It — Detailed Renderings for Every Project

One of the most valuable things we bring to a pool and backyard project is the ability to show you what it’s going to look like before anything is built. Not a rough floor plan. Not a contractor’s sketch. A detailed rendered visualization that captures the materials, the water features, the structures, the hardscape, and the overall feeling of the finished space — so you can make decisions with confidence rather than guesswork.

Pool projects are significant investments. The rendering process pays for itself the first time it helps you catch something you would have wanted to change after the fact — a pool position that doesn’t feel right, a cabana that’s too close to the property line, a hardscape transition that needs rethinking. Seeing it first, on paper, is always less expensive than changing it in the ground.

What We Don't Do — and Who We Bring In

We design spaces, not plantings. Selecting the right landscape plants for Middle Tennessee’s climate — which trees provide the right shade, which ground covers work near a pool, which screening plants give you privacy without becoming a maintenance problem — requires specialized expertise that we don’t have and won’t pretend to. Plant selection done wrong is expensive, slow to correct, and potentially harmful to the pool environment.

For every pool project that involves landscape planting, we either connect you with a trusted landscape designer or lean on the expertise your pool builder’s team brings. Our job is to design the spatial framework — the hardscape, the structures, the layout — and to make sure the landscape designer is working within a plan that’s already been thoughtfully resolved. That collaboration produces better results than either discipline working alone.

Similarly, the mechanical design of the pool itself — plumbing, filtration, electrical, and pool engineering — belongs with your pool contractor and their team. We design the surrounding space. They design the water.

Why Homeowners Choose Candid Home Design for Pool Projects

Whole-backyard design thinking — pool, hardscape, structures, and outdoor living areas planned as a unified composition, not assembled piece by piece
Detailed renderings that show you exactly what your finished backyard will look like before construction begins
Building design expertise for pool houses, cabanas, detached entertaining structures, and guest suites — real buildings designed and documented correctly
Honest about scope — we design the space and connect you with the right landscape and pool specialists for what falls outside our expertise
Experience integrating outdoor spaces with interior remodels and additions — inside and outside designed together when the project calls for it
Family-owned and operated, remote-ready — serving Greater Nashville and homeowners throughout the Southeast and beyond

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a designer for a pool project?

The pool itself will be designed and engineered by your pool contractor. Where a building designer adds the most value is in the surrounding space — the hardscape layout, the integration with your home and existing outdoor areas, and any structures like pool houses or cabanas that are part of the project. For larger or more complex projects, having the full backyard designed before construction starts almost always produces a better, more cohesive result.

What is included in pool hardscape design?

Pool hardscape includes the decking that surrounds the pool, transitions between the pool area and adjacent outdoor spaces, steps and entry points, coping details at the pool edge, and the paved surfaces that connect the pool zone to the rest of the backyard. We design all of this as part of the overall backyard layout, ensuring it flows naturally with your home, your outdoor living areas, and the pool itself.

Can you design a pool house or cabana as part of a pool project?

Yes — and these are some of our favorite projects. Pool houses, cabanas, detached entertaining structures, and guest suites are real buildings that require proper design and construction documents. We design them to be architecturally consistent with your home, functionally suited to the way the space will be used, and fully documented for permitting and construction.

Do you handle landscape and planting design?

No — and we’re intentional about that. Plant selection and landscape design require specialized expertise in local climate, soil conditions, and plant behavior near pools and hardscape. We design the spatial framework and connect you with landscape designers we trust, or work alongside your pool builder’s landscape team, to ensure the planting plan complements the design we’ve developed.

Can you help with a smaller above-ground or pre-fabricated pool?

Yes. Smaller pool projects benefit from the same design thinking as larger ones — how the pool integrates with the surrounding space, what hardscape frames it, and how the whole area ties back to the rest of your outdoor living areas. We scale our involvement to the scope of the project.

Can you design a pool project if I'm outside of Nashville?

Yes. Our design process is remote-first and we work with homeowners throughout the Southeast and beyond. Pool and backyard design translates well to a remote process — we work from site surveys, photos, and existing drawings to develop a design that works for your specific property.

All projects start with our

Build Feasibility Study

Determine whether your project is feasible, BEFORE you spend thousands in design and construction.

Ready to See What Your Backyard Could Be?

Schedule a consultation to see if we can help!

Serving Greater Nashville — Brentwood, Franklin, Gallatin, Lebanon, Murfreesboro, and surrounding Middle Tennessee — plus remote home addition design throughout the Southeast and beyond.