One other thing that you should consider is concrete waterproofing for the retaining walls. There are many techniques uses today including torch on membrane waterproofing that will cover large areas very quickly. The problem is with water around concrete this can cause all sorts of issues including cracking and concrete cancer.

We had a pool coping like this and wanted to pave around the pool area. We laid travertine over the exiting coping and used the same travetine pavers for the surrounding area - it is a great upgrade. We laid the pavers for the surrounding area on a sand road base.

Real stone needs sealing regularly.

We have black granite.... yes it does get a bit warm/hot underfoot... but I had samples of the other lighter colours and it too was hot so I opted for the colour I liked. For the area directly around the pool there is ample water being continuously splashed onto it.

Decking for contrast against all that stone; you can still get a greyish colour if you use something like modwood

I have white travertine - it did need to be sealed but a good sealer last around 4 years. Pricey yes, but worth it. The travertine is cool underfoot even on the hottest day. We live in the west and around the pool you can walk barefoot - on the concrete path to the pool - need shoes.

Looks fab Phoebe, we are just starting to look at getting Travertine paving in our front courtyard..thanks for the update, increases my confidence in going forward with travertine. Enjoy..hot weather will be here soon

Hi Phoebe, your paving looks great! We also have a pebblecrete edge pool and are thinking about doing coping. Can i ask how long it took to do the coping (roughly) and did the travertine stick to the pebblecrete ok?