I’ve never been much of a pool person, so when we decided to update our backyard I immediately put forward the suggestion to fill the pool in and make it a sunken fernery. I don’t’ even really know what a sunken fernery is. To me, it just sounds better than a pool, with all the maintenance and cleaning needed to keep it looking like a place you want to be.

I honestly don’t know why pools are so strongly rated in real-estate. When we bought our house it was the thing the agents talked right up, and now we’re the owners of our place, it is the thing I dislike the most. Jake asked me to consider whether I’d like it more if it looked better, and I’ve got to admit that even though it meets all the safety requirements, the fencing around our pool looks like something right out of the 80s.

Coaxed into a meeting with a business known for doing the most modern pool fencing in Melbourne, I began to see the light. Looking through a viewbook the company had provided, I began to feel a twinge of smugness about the possibility of having a beautiful pool. A beautiful, modern glass fence line as opposed to our outdated oak enclosure. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so overwhelmed by the space.

We went ahead with the suggestion of full glass enclosure and an update to the tiling, which I really, really hated. We had the pool refurbished, out with the 70s aquamarine rendering and in with some incredible Mexican gold lustre tiles, and the glass fence line surrounding the pool made it look like something of a jewel in our backyard. I’ll have to put up signs warning people to be careful around the pool and the glass. The last thing I want to happen is glass getting in the pool, not to mention the cost of the glass repairs.

It’s been six weeks since the renovation and I can honestly say that I’m very glad we don’t have a sunken fernery, but instead a very interesting update on a pool I used to hate. Does this make me a pool person? So be it!