@lottielong, Whatever you do do, seek professional help because no matter what, a pool RENO, can be a very expensive venture that you do want to get right. I'm not all for designers for this and that in the home, as I'd like to think I have a good enough idea myself but when it comes to a pool, mistakes are almost life long or simply too expensive to rectify. It's all about how much you are able to spend ultimately. Hubby and I are building a new home and we have allowed ourselves an indoor pool, very extravagant for a farming family, ha-ha.....anyway, we were lucky to be able to purchase a second hand fibreglass pool for a 1/3 of the cost. It is a little faded but we will give it a polish and see how it comes up or alternatively, we'll re-coat. We'll tile over the concrete base and it should be stuning when complete. I've attached a photo before the frame went up.

Flower Power http://www.flowerpower.com.au/gardening/pool-friendly-plants-2/ provide a fairly generous list of plants that are suitable but you need to figure out the look and how much maintenance you're prepared to put in and think about thinks like the creepy crawlies that live in plants and that will find their way into your pool. A trip down to your local nursery and a chat with their horticulturalist will set you up nicely - be sure to take the size of the side that you're wanting to plant out (remember you wont want invasive roots) and if you can take a layout of your yard with the pool and the direction if faces, they'll be able to set you up with plants easily. If you decide to go low maintenance there are laser-cut screens and outdoor artwork that can work beautifully if you paint all your fence to one colour. Good luck,

had various outdoor spas including a 5m "portable" saltwater swim spa for many years but as we were hundreds of metres from nearest neighbours it could be used at any time of the day or night without disturbing anyone else...ours was installed directly on the concrete floor of a converted garage so we could open the roller doors for gorgeous bush view and close for heating in cold weather...given the choice i would never have one in the suburbs because the noise restricts times that it could be used but newer models, installed below ground in a lockable enclosed shelter could solve those problems..check with manufacturers and keep in mind that they need proper pool security and more chemicals than a swimming pool to maintain safe water in the smaller volume of constantly heated water and can be easily damaged by rough use but nothing better than a warm swim on a cold night

we had spas and a swim spa for many years kept at a constant comfortable temperature so they could be used any time of the day or night and we used them most days all through summer and winter but it was installed in a pool house (with appropriate insulated cover for safety and security) on an acreage property where the sound of the jets would not disturb the neighbourhood as they are much too noisy to use with close neighbours but, maybe the latest models are quieter and you should test drive any spa that you're considering? and keep in mind that ours needed the same servicing and water maintenance as a full sized pool and all the chemicals and keeping the heater and filters on full time are ongoing extra costs but mostly i would be concerned about a crowd of kids using any spa as they're much more fragile than a swimming pool and are easily damaged (and expensive to repair) so unless you will use it mostly for adults i'd prefer a small modest priced above ground swimming pool for entertaining teenagers