I painted a lion king mural in our giant kids area in a business we owned some years back ! Needless to say ALL the Kids and families that visited us loved it ! Hope you find what your after and a budding artist ! If your ever in Manly take a look at the Fish shop on the corner just across from the beach amazing tile mosaic that's what came to mind when I saw your post !

I would not recommend bamboo, especially that close to the pool. Bamboo drops lots and lots and lots of leaves and it is also susceptible to salt and chlorine. We planted bamboo (clumping) along the fence in our pool area in Melbourne and although I loved the look of it we took it out last year as it was just too much work cleaning up the leaves. I could have filled our green bin every week and it clogged up our pool cleaning robot. It also started yellowing in one spot that occasionally got splashed and I was told it was due to the chemicals. Once we took the bamboo out we had timber slat screening put up against the existing fence (with consent from neighbor) and have now planted a few lily pily in front. So much easier to maintain now.

watchedpoppy, here's something about heat pumps designed for cold temperatures. Note, these are reverse cycled air conditioners (air-to-air), not pool heat pumps (air-to-water). I don't know how heat pumps stack up. It's an American site, so FYI -13F equals -25C. http://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/benefits/hyper-heating On a side note, temperature is just the product of the motion of atoms & molecules (kinetic energy). These are in motion all the way down to zero Kelvin (-273C). So although it may feel cold outside, there's still energy available in the site, although heat pumps do become much less efficient when it's cold (the difference in input & output temperatures is important). One thing that has made heat pumps very inefficient in the past is that the condensing coil would ice up at around zero C. This would have to be thawed out with a plain old electric element (COP of 1). Greatly reducing the overall COP in temperatures around our below zero C. But the modern heat pumps, which use the CO2 compressors Luxury Home Heating has talked about don't have an electric element to thaw them out, greatly increasing their efficiency. As for the noise issues. Some modern heat pumps (but not all) are very quiet. So just pay close attention to the decibels they produce, listed on their spec sheets. FYI, here's a good read. Though it doesn't mention solar PV, which would be advantageous for a heat pump. https://www.pooledenergy.com/blog/choosing-a-pool-heater-what-are-the-relative-performances-of-solar-gas-electric-pool-heaters/

I really like that facade. Thank you so much. It is brilliant of you to take the time Siriuskey. I had reservations about our plan but through the knowledge and inspiration I have received from you Houzzers, I got some wonderfull ideas to enhance it that I can take to the draftsman and the ideas will improve it greatly. I have taken in the thoughts and ideas of posters. Some I've agreed with and others that I didn't agree with were still of great benefit because then I was able to fully assess what suited me and our family and tweek the suggestions. I am researching further and asap I have something to share, I will. Warm regards Wendy.