We used to have a swim spa, but found that it wasn't all that they are cracked up to be. Despite the heating, if you live somewhere cold and/or windy (eg Canberra), it is still very cold getting in and out in the winter - indeed we could slip on the ice on the ramp up to the spa! And even if you have it indoors or the weather is good - swimming against the jets isn't as good as real swimming. We used a snorkel to deal with the jets in your face and that worked well, but I had difficulty getting a good setting on the jets for my stroke. I'm now pretty sure that was due to a crooked stroke as my husband had a lot less trouble but it wasn't fun being pushed constantly out of the stream of water and finding myself at the side of the spa. Another thing is that you can only really have one person actually swimming at a time. I reckon kids can actually have a reasonable amount of fun in the spa - they do love the jets! There isn't as much room for a proper game of water polo etc.

I voted for neither. Growing up my family always had a pool. Although I am sure it's much easier to maintain the pool during the winter months nowadays, I will forever my father's grumbling about how tedious it was to maintain a pool throughout the year. Of course, I've always lived in Melbourne. Unless your pool is heated, a pool is something that doesn't get used for much of the year. I guess a spa is different, indoors, it could work. But then I'm more inclined to pamper myself in other ways - A good massage will always win over a spa any day in my book.

WOOOOW!!! What a truly impressive home and interior design. Very beautifully put together! Thank you very much for sharing your project, it looks amazing. The Hamptons style is definitely a style that oozes a lot of understated chic and effortless sophistication. Well done!

We have 600x400x30mm limestone pavers and would like to replace our old clay pavers with a more modern look. Question: Can a 400mm wide paver sit on top of a 350mm wide pool coping bed? The coping bed is raised about 150mm above the soil. About 20mm of the paver will go over into the pool side as an edge, 350mm lay on the coping bed, leaving 30mm hanging over, well, nothing. The limestone pavers are dense, heavy, 30mm thick. Question : do you think they will crack or break? Is it do-able or should we cut down the pavers to 350mm width (extra cost). Appreciate your advice Houzzers.