What are some unique features you can add to a swimming pool?
You can make a swimming pool your own by adding features your family will actually use, including in-pool dining tables, jumping rocks, oversized shallow areas, islands, daybeds, swings, fire features, and oversized spas. You don’t have to go conventional with your pool. Think about what your family would have the most fun using and make room for it.
Key Takeaways:
– You don’t have to go conventional with your pool. An in-pool dining table, jumping rocks, swings, floating lounge areas, and other unexpected features can make your pool a feature you and your family use every single day.
– Give everyone something to do. Shallow areas give younger kids a place to play, while jumping rocks and swings give older kids more ways to have fun.
– You can do a lot more with a pool than swim. Add places to eat, lounge, play, gather, warm up, or simply hang out near the water.
This was a first.
We’ve designed hundreds of pools in dozens of states and several different countries.
But we’d never put a dining table inside one.
That’s one request we got for the first time recently.
Our clients live in Utah. They have a big family. They love to entertain. So, naturally, they wanted a massive dining table that could fit everyone in their yard all at once.
But what makes this dining space so unique is that they wanted it directly inside the pool.
Now they can literally stay in the pool all day. They don’t even need to get out for meals. Everyone can gather around the table, eat together, sit and chat, and then go right back to swimming.
And we love requests like this.
There are so many things you can do with a pool that people don’t always think about.
If your family loves having everyone over for dinner, you can add a place to eat. If your kids love jumping into the water, give them a place to do it. If you have little kids, give them a shallow area where they can play.
Think about all the different ways your family would actually use the pool, then figure out how to make room for them.
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More About the Yard
This family really wanted to create a legacy property.
They have a big family, and they wanted a place where they could spend all their time together and create incredible memories as their kids grow up.
So they didn’t just want a beautiful pool. They wanted to give everyone in the family different ways to enjoy it.
Some people can swim. Some can eat. The little kids can play in the shallow water. The older kids can jump off the rocks or swings. And the adults can relax on the daybeds, island, or in the spa.
Everyone can spend time together without everyone having to do the exact same thing.
Here are seven of the features they added to make this pool completely their own.
A Dining Table Inside the Pool
What’s so cool about having a table in the pool is how many different ways you can actually use it.
The family can have breakfast out here, bring smoothies or snacks into the pool, sit down for lunch, or have a full dinner together without anyone having to get out of the water.
And with a family this big, they’ll actually use all that space around the table.
It turns one area of the pool into a place they can use pretty much all day.
Jumping Rocks
This is one request we’ve been getting more and more often, especially from homeowners in Utah.
It’s such a fun feature if you have older kids. It gives them somewhere to climb up and jump into the water instead of just swimming.
And because we’re using natural rock, it works really well with the mountain backdrop and the rest of the landscaping.
You get something the kids are going to use all the time without having to add a traditional diving board.
An Oversized Shallow Area
With kids of different ages, it was important to have parts of the pool that worked for everyone.
The oversized shallow area gives the younger kids plenty of room to play without being in the deeper water. And with loungers right there, the adults can hang out in the water and stay close while the kids play.
Meanwhile, the older kids can swim, jump off the rocks, or use the swings.
A Floating Island
We also added a floating island with loungers right in the middle of the pool.
It’s perfect if you want to be right in the middle of everything without actually getting in the water. You can stretch out, watch the kids swim, talk to everyone, or just hang out for a while.
And honestly, it’s just a really cool feature you don’t see very often.
Swings Over the water
The swings are another fun one, especially for the kids.
They can swing out over the water and jump straight into the pool, or just sit there with their feet over the water between swims.
It’s one of those features that makes the pool a lot more fun without being overly complicated.
An Oversized Spa
With a family this big, a standard-size spa wasn’t going to be big enough.
So we created an oversized jacuzzi.
There’s room for the kids to pile in, the adults to relax, and everyone to actually use it together instead of squeezing into a spa made for four or five people.
And that’s another way you can customize a pool without doing anything crazy. Sometimes you just take something you already know you want and make it work better for your family.
This yard is such a good example of how much you can actually do with a pool.
A dining table in the water. Jumping rocks. Huge shallow areas for the younger kids. Swings. An oversized spa big enough for everyone.
You obviously don’t need all of that in your own yard.
But if you’re already going to build a pool, think beyond just the size, shape, and where it goes. Think about what would make your family want to stay out there longer and what they’d have the most fun using.
Because there are probably a lot more possibilities than you realize.
Want to see the rest of this yard?
Watch the full tour here on YouTube.
Or visit the blog for the full project and even more from this backyard.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you put a dining table inside a swimming pool?
Yes. We recently added a full-size dining table directly inside a pool for a family that loves to entertain. They can have breakfast, bring out smoothies or snacks, sit down for lunch, or have a full dinner together without even getting out of the water.
What are some unique features you can add to a pool?
There’s a lot more you can add to a pool than you might think. In-pool dining tables, jumping rocks, oversized shallow areas, floating islands, swings, daybeds, oversized spas, swim-up bars, and other built-in features can all change how you use the pool.
What pool features are good for families with kids?
It really depends on their ages. Shallow areas give younger kids somewhere to splash and play, while older kids might spend more time jumping off rocks, using swings, or swimming in deeper water. If you have kids of different ages, you can include a little bit of both.
Is a large shallow area worth adding to a pool?
If you have young kids or like lounging in the water, absolutely. You can give the kids plenty of shallow water to play in and add loungers nearby so the adults can relax in the water and still stay close.
How big can you make a backyard spa?
A spa can be much larger than the typical four-to-eight-person size. For this family, we designed an oversized spa with seating for around 20–25 people so the family and their guests could actually use it together.
Behind The Blog
Justin Fox
Founder & Creative Director
Founder Justin Fox grew up with a passion for landscaping. After 15+ years building luxury yards and pools as a licensed contractor, he saw the limits of the design/build model. Homes get detailed, architect-led plans, so why shouldn’t yards? In 2019 he convinced brother Nate Fox to join him and launched Foxterra Design to focus on immersive, luxury outdoor spaces.
Foxterra designs immersive outdoor environments that blend architecture, landscape, and lifestyle into one cohesive vision. Our work is rooted in timeless materials, intentional layout, and outdoor living that feels effortless to use every day. For this blog, Justin shares some of the unexpected ways you can customize a pool for your family.
Nate Fox
Designer
Nate Fox helps shape Foxterra’s creative vision, blending architectural detail with a designer’s eye for proportion and flow. His work redefines the backyard as an extension of modern luxury living.
In recent features, Nate’s perspective has been quoted across leading design publications, including Homes & Gardens and Luxury Pools + Outdoor Living, where he shares practical, design-forward guidance on everything from integrating sculptural moments and sightlines to creating “living wall” effects that soften hard architecture and make compact spaces feel more expansive.
