You have all the expensive structural work done already so yay! Looks as though your pool cover sits on the winder to the left hand side of the picture when your pool is in use. That would make blue quite a dominant colour in the scheme. It also looks like you lose access to that side of the pool deck when the pool is in use. I'm taking those two things into account when making my suggestions. Wall colour. The back and side walls are very glarey. They could recede somewhat and make the pool area seem larger if you painted them a darker colour. I would have suggested charcoal, but a deep grey blue would tone with the pool cover and water colour better. The two pieces of lattice could go bye byes. If you also painted the pool fence the same colour as the back fence it would really tie the area together, make the pool fence 'disappear', and make the yard seem larger. Plants in pots would be terrific but you would have to go easy in the pool area or you could cramp the kids' scamper and play space. Taller skinnier pots in the corners should maximise the scamper space on the three accessible sides. Plants with a larger leaf would work if you live somewhere tropical or semitropical, otherwise bangalow palms that are tall enough to sway in the breeze for that tropical vibe. You've got 3 types of seating in the pool area so I'd suggest trying to unify them. The yellow chairs are plastic and hardest to change. They are also very cool, so if you love them and love yellow then paint the bench and deck chairs in the same colour. Do you love yellow? If you wanted to make a feature of just the yellow chairs, you could paint/stain the timber furniture a couple of shades darker or lighter than the walls to tone in. I've suggested a bit of painting here I know, but each project could be done in a weekend: back & side fence; pool fence; bench & deckchairs. Bite size chunks. Now here's the pretty bit. For interest on the walls you could attach a few pieces of tropical wall art in a row. You get tropical without the maintenance! Definitely go an umbrella. Pick one with a wind vent in the top and a weighted base. If you can go the expense the cantilevered ones are fantastic as you can move the shade around where you need it. Pick the colour when you've decided your other colours. Aaaand finally....do my eyes deceive me or are they beer bottles tied to the pool fence? Not Judging Just Asking!

The budget solution would be to clean them and paint with paving paint. Won't last forever and will need some maintenance but you'll get the lol you're after.

Yes - there are these amazing options to have an 'electric pool cover' with a slat arrangement that allows you to virtually walk on it. Do a google search...'pool covers electric'... I've no idea on how much they cost... Here's some pics. Not sure if irregular shapes make this too challenging... Our pool experience... We are needing to change a few things with our pool already - wish we had paid more attention to the pipes and filtration... (Having to potentially move them as they are too shallow and in 'awkward spot'... Extra $ and I'm so worried it may cause issues for us... Even the location of the concrete slab for the pump... Wish we had thought about overall picture... If I was buying a car for $70k, I would have done more research, but somehow we got carried away with idea that we could have a pool for summer, and yet reality is that it's ready for the 'next summer'... Budget plan (original) was around $30-40k, but I guess it's like building a house... Plus it's all a big learning experience...

@ Ba Beltramo, I think this dilemma might be better solved if we we had pictures, as suggested by rahnch but if that is too difficult to provide, it would help if you supplied more information about exactly where this pool sits as opposed to the home and what size and shape it is including the lay of the land, pool fencing etc... I'm a little concerned about some of the suggestions that even talk of possibly destroying the pool although I have nothing personally against the suggestion providing you are well informed and take into account what will best suit you personally. After reading you dilemma heading again, "Re-design the space AFTER pool" I'm now assuming that the pool may already be gone and you have a huge hole where it once sat?? If that's the case, then it could be as simple as filling the hole in as you suggested yourself. If the pool is still in place and you are considering filling it in, then I would be concerned about your thoughts to effectively destroy it when I personally know just how costly is it to have a pool in the first place with many people who could only dream of having one!! At the end of the day, your property must work for you but I would hope you give it allot of thought before you do anything.