Fab Lighting Concept...

Forget floating tea lights for an effect across your night time glass-like pool, yesterday I came across this amazing contemporary [wireless] lighting concept in 'Metropolitan Home' magazine of Hector Serrano’s rotation-molded polyethylene Waterproof Floating Lantern charges upside-down and out of water during the day, the design was for Serrano's client: Metalarte, and has since won the Nachlux Award. Once they are charged, you can set them afloat in the pool, where they will right themselves and begin to glow. Now I just need the pool and these fab lights en-masse...

For more details visit YLighting.com. Photo Credit: Courtesy of YLighting / Metropolitan Home

Backyard Oasis...small or grand create your view

My Top 5 Garden Oasis'... nothing says it like an element of water in your garden design, & boy do these outdoor redefine the standard expectations. With the professional skills of a designer & a landscape architect an amazing vision can be realised.... Poolside Grove In this lush and relaxing setting, landscape architect Andrea Cochran placed the pool terrace between a charming olive grove and a lush, grassy Sonoma Valley meadow. Beautiful and serene, the raised lap pool reflects the white clouds of the sky.Photographer: Emily Rylander

Shimmering Stretch Set in idyllic and magnificent Marin County, California, this 75-foot-long lap pool, designed by landscape architect Bernard Trainor is stunning against the native grassland. A concrete and stone walkway leads down to the gleaming expanse, accented with coyote bush, needle grass, and rosemary, to enhance the land’s natural beauty. Photographer: Jason Liske
Bring on the Bubbly Landscape designer Anthony Exter designed this spectacular pool space in Pasadena, California, with a light installation and waterfall to mimic a bubbling bottle of champagne. That motif, plus the accompanying allee with enough space to seat 100 plus people, makes this contemporary backyard a posh party space. Photographer: Steve Gunther

Art Escape A cube-shaped grotto rises majestically out of a gleaming pool in Napa Valley. The ceiling of the grotto is equipped with programmable LED light strips to further the artlike effect. Designed by Tom Leader Studio, this pool features “wet edges,” making it look like a surreal, edgeless expanse. Photographer: Florian Holzherr

Bay Beauty Pristinely set up on a seven-acre site on Lynnhaven Bay, a part of a tributary to the Chesapeake Bay, this lovely landscape designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz appears as if the patio is a floating island. A fresh water pond surrounds the raised paths to the lap pool and adjacent family pool. The effect is that of a true getaway. Architect: William McDonough + Partners

Images & details from Point Click Home

Palatial Blue White Poolside Entertaining ...

A recent snippet from Elle Decor on Fashion Design Dennis Basso's gorgeous poolside retreat - I thought I would share with you, notably even more fabulous in my favourite - Blue & White colour scheme.... maybe I am little biased. Beautiful all the same... wouldn't you agree?

Photo Credit: Eric Piasecki
Fashion designer Dennis Basso is the go-to guy for luxurious coats wrought from mink and sable and glorious handbags made of alligator and other exotic skins. But when the trendsetter isn’t crafting looks for the catwalk, he and Michael Cominotto—his partner and men’s style director for the Dennis Basso label—are all about good friends, hearty food, and easy entertaining under the weekend sun. After all, when you have 4,000 square feet of outdoor space tailored for convivial meals—notably a columned pool house built around a towering brick fireplace—why not enjoy it as much as possible?
“We love to be outside,” says the genial silver-haired Basso, whose escape from Manhattan is his and Cominotto’s two-acre property in the historic Long Island village of Water Mill. “We ask people of different ages and outlooks to join us, and we encourage them to bring their house guests. We especially like lunch, which is served late enough for everyone to finish playing tennis and golf before they have to arrive.”

At fashion designer Dennis Basso’s Hamptons pool house, the setting is as chic as the guest list. The simple but sophisticated setting is a major attraction too. Measuring 50 feet long by 20 feet wide, the one-story pool house is where much of the action takes place, amid frothy Kentia palms, lush ferns, and succulent jade plants. Interior designer Kenneth Alpert conceived it as a plein-air living room, so the pavilion-like structure offers ample comforts—beckoning sofas with navy canvas upholstery, white-painted wood armchairs sporting smart blue-and-white-striped cushions, and a generously proportioned cocktail table for candles, drinks, and snacks.

At one end of the breezy space is a fully stocked bar illuminated by a pair of oversize ginger-jar lamps. At the opposite end, high-backed wicker chairs are gathered around three pedestal tables for dining. Country-style flower arrangements interspersed with classic blue-and-white ceramics, from delft vases to Chinese Export figurines, decorate the tables. As curious guests soon learn, every piece has a story. “Remembering where we found each one—in Aspen, Europe, or the Far East— makes them all special,” Basso says.

Basso's Basics - Tips for entertaining from an A-list host
I like to use place cards for dinners, and they’re great when you have a crowd. To keep conversation lively, seat each guest between someone they know and someone they should know.
Mix and match glasses for a personal look, whether they’re by Baccarat or Williams-Sonoma. It’s the size and shape that matter, not the source.
If you’re married or partnered, work as a team. I make the table visually appealing; Michael sees to all the things I don’t think of, such as chilling wine and taking charge of the grill.
Establish a culinary theme. We run our kitchen based on our Italian backgrounds, which means serving classic dishes like antipasti, linguine alle vongole, and grilled vegetables.

For more on this story & interview visit Elle Decor

Horray! ...It's the Weekend!

With February to an end this weekend [for us in the Southern Hemisphere] although it is still warm through to Easter in April for swimming and frolicking on the sand, the days change as they grow shorter, and the warmth is slightly different so this weekend is a great time to get the most out of the swimming pool or beach-side, grab your towels, pull out the sun lounge and pop on your favourite wide brim hat!

Aside, I love this Palm Springs-esque pool setting painted in sunny yellow with white netting against the over sized large white format paving and the mirrored aqua glacier pool - all so inviting! Hope you have a wonderful weekend - Enjoy! Sarah x

Image from Southern Accents