Michael Logsdon's simple, round pool.
Last week I was chatting with Chris Anderson of Custom Design Pools, a high-end designer/builder located in the greater Houston area, who made that very observation. He pointed out, accurately I believe, that for many in the industry, the desire to be on the so-called “cutting edge” results in a sort of disregard for installations that might be deemed more ordinary compared to some of the industry’s creative endeavors.
“When you see something all the time, it’s easy to lose sight of what you have,” Anderson observed. “Yet, when you step back and look our industry’s products, they’re truly amazing. An ordinary pool might not be that big a deal to those of us in the industry, but to the homeowner it’s a dream come true. We’d do well to keep that in mind. It’s okay to appreciate what you already have.”
It’s a great point and one that was reinforced in another conversation I had later in the day, with yet another Texas builder, Michael Logsdon of Land Design. Logsdon is also a tremendously creative designer, but with a twist, many of his projects are notably simplistic, often basic rectangles and circles.
He was talking about the significance that a simple, affordable body of water can hold for some homeowners when he shared powerful example. One of his recent clients lives in the home where he was raised, and for years the backyard featured a basic circular above ground package pool. Although the pool was about as simple and unadorned as imaginable, it was nonetheless a constant source of fun for the client growing up.
Logsdon’s job was to build a round concrete pool in the exact same spot as the original inexpensive model.
“It was just a simple circle, raised partly out of the ground, but to the client it might as well have been a million dollar project,” he explained. “Sometimes it’s amazing how something so simple and can create such incredible happiness.
“When I see how thrilled some clients can be, it makes me extremely proud of what I do for a living.”
Indeed, even the simplest of vessels is worthy of respect and not something to be dismissed just because it doesn’t have an all-tile finish or a vanishing edge. Sometimes the simplest of designs can be the most beautiful and meaningful.
