Beautiful! The tree has been honoured and is now a useable space.

Technically, this was called a Renovation and Addition, however there was very little left of the old home. Because the original home was perfectly positioned on site anyway, we used the same footprint on the original concrete slab. This unique home is set on 5 acres of a sloping block, so views are amazing from the ground floor but are even more outstanding from the second storey - Bay and City views forever!

It really depends on the style of pool you are after. No.5 is a great look for a formal pool with full width steps leading in. This can be a stunning look when connected to an alresco or formal outdoor dining area, like this (by Natural Pools): Or even this one: The steps then become multi level seating for all ages. Children can sit on the top step, while adults can sit lower down and rest their elbows back on the higher step. This can be annoying, however, if you want to be swimming laps (short laps in a 9.0m pool) and would prefer to touch to the wall. Another detail to keep in mind is the exposed points on your steps. For a tiled pool, these can be quite sharp and a higher potential for scraped feet or legs. No. 4 has three exposed points, No.1 has one and No.5 does not have any. So if you didn't want the full width steps, I would go for No.1. It has a clean line of a continuous ledge across the pool and then the one step below that for access. All the best with your project!

Ideas for retaining wall seating? Would brackets suffice??