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Swimming Pool Fences: 10 Ideas for Safety & Style at Water’s Edge

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PoaIssue 29 — Summer Scheme

Swimming Pool Fences: 10 Ideas for Safety & Style at Water’s Edge

July 17, 2018

A fence is an important safety feature if you have a swimming pool; you don’t want anyone drowning.

Legal requirements for swimming pool fences can vary depending on municipal or state law. But no matter what the rules are where you live, you can install a swimming pool fence without sacrificing style for safety. Here’s proof—we’ve rounded up 10 stylish swimming pool fences made of materials ranging from wood to corten steel for inspiration.

Wooden Fences

Above: A well-placed tree has room to breathe without encroaching on the roof of a house in Beverly Hills. See more of this project in Swimming Pool of the Week: A Modern Update in Beverly Hills. Photograph by Jessica Sample, courtesy of Simo Design.

Horizontal wooden slats allow air and light to circulate, making a swimming pool deck feel spacious.

Above: During a recent remodel, the swimming pool got a facelift. To complement the color of an existing brick patio courtyard,  a formerly white pool was replastered in a new dark gray shade. See more of this project in Swimming Pool of the Week: A Modern Update in Beverly Hills. Photograph by Jessica Sample, courtesy of Simo Design.

Pasture Fences

Above: For more of this project, see Swimming Pool of the Week: Beautiful Views in the Berkshires. Photograph by Michael Moran, courtesy of O’Neill Rose Architects.

Take cues from the surrounding landscape. In western Massachusetts, where a gently sloped grassy expanse borders a swimming pool deck, architects O’Neill Rose opted for a pasture fence to reinforce the bucolic agricultural atmosphere.

Limestone Fences

Above: Hardy native perennial plantings help soften the required pool fence, here of limestone, and add some interest to the view from the main house at A Modern Pool Pavilion in Water Mill. Photograph by John Porcheddu, courtesy of Khanna Schultz.

An elevated pool deck makes a limestone fence feel more like a pony wall. Softened with plantings—clumps of Miscanthus grasses mix with the dusty purples of Russian sage, yellows of black-eyed Susans, and the wheats of Calamagrostis—the bulk of the stone fence recedes into the landscape.

Split Rail Fences

Above: See more of this pool at Swimming Pool of the Week: Dreaming in Blue at a Stylist’s Hamptons Compound. Photograph by Matthew Williams.

A rustic split rail fence encloses a swimming pool, making it feel like a distant destination.

Corten Steel Fences

Corten steel fence panels seem to float but actually are fixed to a concrete footing, hidden by plantings of native perennial tussock grass (Poa labillardierei). Photograph courtesy of Nicholas Bray.
Above: Corten steel fence panels seem to float but actually are fixed to a concrete footing, hidden by plantings of native perennial tussock grass (Poa labillardierei). Photograph courtesy of Nicholas Bray.

See more of this project in Australian Open: A Romantic Landscape in the Southern Highlands.

Concrete Block Barriers

A concrete block wall provides poolside privacy without blocking panoramic views from a house by Sydney-based MCK Architects. Photograph courtesy of MCK Architects.
Above: A concrete block wall provides poolside privacy without blocking panoramic views from a house by Sydney-based MCK Architects. Photograph courtesy of MCK Architects.

See more in 10 Genius Garden Hacks with Concrete.

Brick Walls

Photograph courtesy of Light Locations.
Above: Photograph courtesy of Light Locations.

The contrast of old brick against a silvery modern wooden deck creates a peaceful atmosphere surrounding a swimming pool in Winchester, England.

Coyote Fences

A cedar post fence visible behind a limestone wall is &#8\2\20;mainly to keep deer and coyotes out of the area,” says Austin, Texas–based landscape architect Tait Moring. “Some people call that a coyote fence. If the gate gets left open, I’ve seen both coyotes and deer come in.”
Above: A cedar post fence visible behind a limestone wall is “mainly to keep deer and coyotes out of the area,” says Austin, Texas–based landscape architect Tait Moring. “Some people call that a coyote fence. If the gate gets left open, I’ve seen both coyotes and deer come in.”

At landscape architect Tait Moring’s own home, the swimming pool disappears into the surrounding landscape. “It’s very simple,” says Moring. “There are a lot of spring-fed swimming holes around here, and I was trying to create an illusion to them with the design.”

See more of this swimming pool at Landscape Architect Visit: At Home with Tait Moring in Austin, TX.

Tree Cutout Fences

Studio Shamshiri designed and installed a custom wooden fence to highlight a sculptural tree and provide privacy around a swimming pool at a midcentury house in Los Angeles. Photograph by Shade Degges.
Above: Studio Shamshiri designed and installed a custom wooden fence to highlight a sculptural tree and provide privacy around a swimming pool at a midcentury house in Los Angeles. Photograph by Shade Degges.
Tree as art.
Above: Tree as art.

See more of this project, which was a finalist in our 2017 Considered Design Awards, at Rustic Canyon Residence.

Poured Concrete Walls

In costume designer Gordana Golubovic’s luxe, secluded LA backyard, a poured-concrete wall supports a vertical-slat wooden fence. See more at Garden Visit: Spanish Colonial-Style Made Modern in LA. Photograph by Lauren Moore.
Above: In costume designer Gordana Golubovic’s luxe, secluded LA backyard, a poured-concrete wall supports a vertical-slat wooden fence. See more at Garden Visit: Spanish Colonial-Style Made Modern in LA. Photograph by Lauren Moore.

“One of the best ways to create durable and versatile hardscape elements is with poured-in-place concrete,” writes our contributor Kier Holmes. Read more at Hardscaping 101: Poured-in-Place Concrete.

Are you designing a new swimming pool or updating the hardscape around an existing one? Start with our curated design guide to Swimming Pools 101 in our Hardscape 101 guides. Read more:

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