Our new St John swimming pool is finished and fabulous!

Early morning view to the west overlooking

Chocolate Hole Harbor from our new pool

What a week this past one has been!  Lots of great work was completed this week by the Carlson Construction crew.  

We re-plastered the existing wading and swimming pools

at the Main Villa

As soon as the pool was plastered we filled the pools with water:

Coby ensures the force of the water does not damage the new plaster

on the existing Villa pools

The existing Villa wading and swimming pools are filled:

As soon as the existing wading and swimming pool were filled with water

the crew then tiled and plastered our new pool

Carlson's whole crew was on site working hard to make our tight schedule:

Abraham laying the dark blue trim tile

on the new pool stairs and underwater bench

After another long, long day the plaster was finished and the new pool was filled with water:

Coby filling the new pool -- it took three truckloads of Henry's Pure Water 

While the rest of us are working in the hot sun,

Chuck (right) and Henry (left) congratulate each other on a job well done!

It took way into the night to fill the pool

but it was not hard duty watching the sun set over the Caribbean 

The next morning it was a pleasure to see the the finished product:

Villa wading and dip pools in foreground and

the new pool in the distance

Great, but physically exhausting week, so there was no better way to end the week but with a massage!

Chuck is ready for Tammi (owner of Massage & Bodywork) to give him a massage while listening to the ocean

break on the shore below Great Expectations

Now that we are 'refreshed' we are on to finishing the new pool patio...

Progress continues on our new pool; the infinity edge has been tiled!

The mosaic glass tile arrived last week by ship and has been installed

We looked all over for tile that would blend into the color of the water and found the perfect tile -- in Canada! 

The tile we chose is called 'bubble glass' since it truly looks like there are bubbles in the tile

Our excavator returned to backfill around the pool and to level the ground next to the pool to form a wonderful new patio area.  Steve Paris, the owner of the excavator company, came himself to personally ensure the job was done to his satisfaction.  We are delighted that Steve proudly displays the 'Digging for a cure' banner, in support of the fight against  breast cancer, on his backhoe).  We think it is perfectly placed:

Steve takes a moment to survey his work - well done!

At the last minute we changed the location of the new pool patio and we are delighted! 

We will have a new  huge patio which will be shaded by our banyan tree (and the views are fabulous!)

While we have been busy building a brand new (HUGE) pool and patio area, we are also re-plastering our current swimming pool and wading pool (very popular with our littlest guests and their parents!):

The guys re-plastering the original Villa swimming and wading pools have good reason to be proud; great job!

This coming week's agenda is a busy one - finish tiling and plastering the pool and install the new pump and filters and fill with water!

Our new St John swimming pool project is on the home stretch!

The pool has been 'unveiled' (aka the wooden concrete forms have been stripped away) and we have lots more work to do but just look at that view!

We now have to let the concrete 'cure' (i.e. have the concrete dry) before we can tile and plaster the pool. The pump house has to be built and then the electrician and plumber can install their wires and piping, filters, and pumps and then - finally - we can add the 'sweet liquid gold' -- water!

Can't you see yourself in it....soon?

Starfish (recycled glass ones) have been placed in our new St John pool -- can water be far behind?

This past week, after receiving our building inspection sign off, we had another big concrete pour. This was an exciting one since it included pouring the pool walls, stairs, and bench seat (which extends along the entire length of one of the sides so you will be able to sit in the pool while looking out over the Caribbean!).

The concrete has been poured into the wooden forms

We made a change in the design last week about which we are excited.  It actually was the suggestion of Dave Carlson, our wonderful contractor.  We were talking about the edge of the pool and how to finish it.  We have always been planning to have the side closest to the water sloped so we would have the feel of an infinity edge that fades into the sea.  Dave suggested sloping the two abutting sides as well.  Maybe you can figure it out, but we could not until Dave explained just how in the world one slopes the top of a concrete wall; as you can see, he did it! A nice touch.

The pool edge will be sloped into the pool

As far as we are concerned, one of the favorite 'signature' marks of a 'Carlson' project are recycled glass starfish! Dave Carlson put them in our Great Room recycled glass countertop they designed and installed this past year and we loved it so much we asked Dave to put some in our pool. The recycled glass starfish come from the Maho Bay Glass Studio (which is a fun place to visit when you are next on St John):

The color of this starfish will be a perfect match with our waterline tile

Dave asked us where we wanted him to place the starfish and we said that we were in his good hands. Well, Dave having great faith in his crew, told his foreman the same thing...use your judgment and place them wherever he felt they should be....perfect!

Starfish are placed along the bench seat

Can't have too many starfish:

More starfish in the stairs

The concrete arrived in big trucks and had to be pumped to the location of our pool. Dave's crew made sure there was not an errant drop of concrete to be seen (no easy task)! Thank you all!

Not a drop of concrete ended up on our sidewalk, patio, or driveway!

What is next? Literally to watch concrete dry!  Once the concrete has cured (e.g. dried) enough the wooden forms get taken down and our friend Rock-a-Rock, the excavator, returns to backfill around the pool.  We will then start 'coping' the pool floor (rounding out the corners and bottom edges of the pool), then we will be ready to install the waterline tile. Another great week in paradise!

Newest St John villa swimming pool - soon come!

Last week was sure a  busy one getting ready for the concrete pour on Friday. We had 5 huge concrete trucks arrive on Friday morning, starting at 7:30 AM. Getting the concrete to the construction site was a challenge in that the concrete truck could not make it up the steep temporary construction road from the west to get to where they had to pour the concrete so the concrete had to be pumped through large hoses (like a fire hose) to carry the liquid concrete about 100' to the site. To make sure that we did not get concrete all over our sidewalk and patios Dave Carlson's crew covered our patio and walkway with plywood and tarps and even had one person available whose sole job was to make sure no concrete spilled on the patio.  None did!

The morning started off gray and rainy which is not a bad thing when you are pouring concrete -- actually, it is better to have a bit of rain than hot, hot sun which might cure the concrete too quickly:

A concrete pumper truck in the Villa parking area. The sidewalk is nicely protected.

As is the Villa pool patio

The hoses to carry the concrete are connected

We are ready to pump and pour!

Carlson Construction crew spreads the concrete

The guys worked fast before the 'crete hardened

Lots of great detailing

The two white 'dots' are the pool drains

Looking good

It's a wrap! for the day that is

Five concrete trucks with 42 yards of concrete -- just for the pool floor!  This is going to be one solid swimming pool! Now, onto forming the walls.  The guys deserved a great, long, Labor Day weekend!

Well done!