Marc's Musings

It took us a long time to find something we were going to be satisfied with for the far side of the pool enclosure. We wanted something that would accent the rock wall face without glaring back at the house where we would be sitting most of the time.

Some challenges included the fact that each light *had* to be at least 7.5 feet above the deck due to electric code restrictions and, since the enclosure posts were mounted on the far side of the retaining wall (about 10 inches from the near edge), the light needed to extend far enough over the deck so that it cast its light back on the wall rather than casting a shadow.

We ended up choosing a gooseneck design that was also “Dark Sky” certified. This would minimize stray light that would only reflect back on the screening which would take away from our desired effect.

We ended up choosing the World Imports 9004-89 Dark Sky Essen Collection Wall Light from Amazon. There are three sizes and we gambled on the largest one (with a 28 inch length) as being the most suitable for our purposes. We needed 3 of them. Two of which now sport 40 watt equivalent CF bulbs and the rightmost fixture sports a 60 watt equivalent to balance out the light.

Here we see them along the back of the enclosure right after I installed them.

They look exactly as we had hoped.

This slightly blurry picture shows the reach and how the larger shade does an excellent job of hiding the bare bulb

It was VERY difficult to get a shot that properly represents the lights at night. My camera and my software both want to make proper sense of the light and try to make every shot like it’s daylight. I did a bit of fussing with the images in post production and this was as close as I can get to how it really looks. The pool water *is* violet in this shot and looks great on its own. The new lights are there only for accent.

Here, with the lights off, the pool light is more obvious. Again the camera tried to make sense of things so both the sky in the background and the pool lights are showing MUCH brighter than reality.

One of the other things we need to deal with is how to gracefully handle the wet swim suits and towels that accumulate during the day. We wanted them to be handily available throughout the day and for re-use as needed.

Instead of having a hamper or leaving them hanging over chair backs on the deck we opted to pick up this “CORDAY ACCORDIAN DRYING RACK” from Ballard Designs and install it over the utility sink in our laundry room (which is just off the pool deck). That way really wet items can drip while the other items can take advantage of the ceiling fan breeze and air conditioning to quickly dry out of reach of Georgia’s humidity-filled days.

We just popped out the existing shelves to install this so we still have a bit of work to remove the remaining shelf supports and finish painting the already patched support holes.

That’s Phoebe (one of our cats) casually observing the scene on the dryer.

The rack can extend out as far as is needed and is much more attractive than a clothes line or one of those portable drying racks.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 33 – Landscaping

Building out the Backyard 01