When we think about summer, the first thing that pops to everyone’s mind is probably some exotic tropical backdrop, relaxed music, colorful shirt, and some cold summer cocktail. Unfortunately, the most important piece of this idealistic summer puzzle, the tropical backdrop, is the one that that people miss the most. No reason to worry though, even if you are not born in this sunny part of the globe, or you cannot afford to spend an entire summer there, the only thing that separates you from your ideal tropical retreat are the pool and a few upgrades to your backyard. You have the pool; let us see how we can take care for the rest.
Build a Bamboo House/Pergola
The choice between the two will eventually boil down to how much money and space you have on disposal, but make sure that you do not miss this important part of tropical backdrop. Fortunately, backyard pergolas and similar constructions are not that hard to build and you can achieve very strong impression even with the most basic, “bamboo roof laid down on the four pillars and the square foundation” setup. Once you are done, make sure that you populate the construction with the elements that will follow the current tropical interior design trend. You do not have to go too far – Soft furnishing, cushions and covers with exotic birds and tropical patterns, hammock and few statement pieces will do more than enough to sell the look.
Take Care of the Paths
As for the paths, as long as you are not using concrete or some other artificial material, you really cannot go wrong. Still, the more naturalistic and organic look you achieve, the stronger tropical vibe will be. Therefore, you should probably opt for the sandstone-gavel combination as one of the most affordable, yet the most visually pleasing solutions.
Harvest the Rain Water
Other than strong tropical influences, the trend that has been dominating 2016 is strive for sustainability, and one of its most obvious manifestations are efforts in preserving the rain water, which can later be used as a decorative element or as an auxiliary water source. The good news is that these two trends can very easily go hand to hand, so it would not be a bad idea to build one or few feral-like stone ponds that will reinforce both of them.
Let There be Fire
Other way to introduce some of that feral and tribal feel around your pool is by lighting up some fire. Do that by making one big fire pit in front of your bamboo pergola and take care for the rest of the space around the pool with ordinary Tikki torches. Not only you will completely sell the tropical look, you will also solve the issue of backyard lighting in a very naturalistic, and energy efficient manner. If you want to, you can even combine your fire pits with water ponds, and marry these two opposing elements in the most spectacular fashion.
Introduce Tropical Flora
Of course, no tropical retreat can possibly be imagined without lush plant life, so do your best to introduce some of these additions in the area around your pool:
- Palms. Although they can usually be seen in the tropical environment, palms are not as sensitive to cold as one would think. As a matter of fact, most of the palms can endure mild winters, while some types can survive even the temperatures as low as 20 °F (-6.6 °C). The much bigger problem regarding the palms is that they they take two years to grow from seed to fully formed three, so, unless you are willing to wait until summer 2018, you should try to find alerady well-established and sun hardend trees.
- High tropical grass. Other important part of tropical look is, of course, tropical grass. One of the best types you can get is the Buffel Grass, which is very drought resistant, quickly responds to rainfall and grows on a wide range of soil types. If you have any problem in dealing with these plants, you can always call some reliable agency like Maintain me to land you a hand.
As we can see, even if you are not able to afford some extravagant tropical vacation, you can always bring the tropics into your backyard and have a ton of enjoyment nevertheless. Be aware, though, there is a lot of work to be done, so if you want to finish the job in time, start the work now.