Just having a pool is a great way to relax and enjoy the long, hot days of summer, but consider adding some nice features and additional decorative touches to your home's pool and patio area. This can make the entire area look like a welcoming and restful retreat, perfect for the family or for entertaining. Note a few quick tips for sprucing up the area around your pool so it doesn't look drab and dull, but will feel like a true oasis you'll love to spend time in.

Increase the landscaping

If you've never thought much of the landscaping around your patio or pool area, now is the time. Adding landscaping trees around the pool can provide needed shade when you're relaxing on the deck, and lush plants can make the space seem welcoming and cosy. Avoid stark, square hedges and look for shrubbery with full and rounded leaves, such a lilac bushes or myrtle. These add privacy in your yard while creating a soft look in the space.

Paint the concrete

If your pool is surrounded by concrete, have it painted, stained, or stamped so that it doesn't look industrial and drab. Painted concrete can coordinate with your home's exterior colour, while stamped and stained concrete can look like stone or brick. This will enhance the overall look and create a space that seems cosier and more welcoming.

Add extra lighting

Extra lighting around the pool area is good for safety, but can also make the space more inviting at night. Opt for solar lights that don't need batteries or any outdoor electricity, and which you can put in the ground along a walkway or around the pool. These will reflect light on the water at night and create great visual interest. You might also put lights at the base of your new landscaping trees or hedges, to keep these illuminated at night and make the space welcoming and restful.

Get a glass fence

Metal and wood fences may have their advantages when it comes to your home's pool and patio, but if these block the view of the pool and the new landscaping you've planted, they do nothing to enhance the area. A glass fence can allow you an unobstructed view of the pool and landscaping; if you plant shrubbery and other vegetation against the fence, and then add lighting to its base, this can add a nice reflection against the glass and glow around the landscaping features. In turn, you'll have a great space around the pool and patio both day and night.