Ep 067 Luxury Outdoor Living

In this episode of the Poolside Perspective Podcast, hosts Mike and Trey Farley of Farley Pool Designs dive into the world of luxury outdoor living. They share insights from Mike's 35 years of experience in the industry, discussing the importance of design processes and practical steps for creating your backyard paradise. The conversation covers a broad spectrum of topics, including the significance of outdoor kitchens, fire features, water features, lighting, sound, and more. They also explore various styles, materials, and the cultural influences that drive unique outdoor designs. Trey and Mike emphasize the importance of tailoring backyard projects to suit individual preferences and ensuring long-lasting functionality and beauty. The episode concludes with a call for listener input on future topics related to luxury outdoor living.

 

Please follow us on YouTube to see the Videos, BBQ Bits segment and other features of the episodes.

https://www.youtube.com/@PoolsidePerspectivesPodcast

You can also follow us on Instagram to see pics, snippets and catch previews of episodes:

https://www.instagram.com/poolsideperspectivespodcast/

 

00:00 Welcome to Poolside Perspective Podcast 01:12 Meet the Hosts: Mike and Trey Farley 01:26 Holiday Recap and Family Ski Adventures 02:35 Defining Luxury Outdoor Living 04:29 The Essentials and Luxuries of Outdoor Spaces 06:20 Adding Layers of Luxury: Fire, Lights, and Water Features 10:11 Creating the Ultimate Outdoor Kitchen 12:18 Blurring the Lines Between Indoors and Outdoors 15:59 BBQ Bits: Green Egg Starter Hack 20:20 The Impact of COVID on Outdoor Living Trends 24:07 Client Stories: Transforming Backyards into Luxurious Spaces 27:33 Understanding Luxury: Options and Craftsmanship 32:42 High-End Materials and Designs for Outdoor Living 34:04 Evolution of Countertop Materials 35:10 Balancing Aesthetics and Functionality 37:04 Luxury Brands and Sustainability 39:17 Trends in Outdoor Living Design 40:03 Integrating Technology in Outdoor Spaces 42:00 Styles in Luxury Outdoor Living 46:00 Designing for Different Lifestyles 50:39 Climate and Geography Considerations 56:25 True Crimes in Luxury Design 59:52 The Importance of Sound and Entertainment 01:02:09 Conclusion and Future Topics  

Episode Transcript

Intro (00:02):
Welcome to Poolside Perspective Podcast.
I'm Mike Farley with Farley Pool Designs.
I'm sure glad you found this podcast.
We're going to talk about everything thathas to do with luxury outdoor living.
I've been designing for 35 years inthe outdoor living and pool industry.
So I understand the challenge you'refacing creating your backyard paradise.

(00:23):
We know your curiosity is notenough to ensure your success.
So on this podcast, we're going to talkabout the design process and practical
steps to help you create that fun space.
We'll have some fun, but this is no flaw.
No one has time for that.
So we're going to get serious and getvery particular on all these topics.
Whether you're a new homeowner with yourfirst remodel or a seasoned homeowner

(00:45):
completing your last three home, wewant to help you end up with what you've
dreamed of from pools to patios, pizzaovens, to pergolas, porcelain to pumps,
pool parties, to permits, ping pongtables, to the process, to your paradise.
This is straight talk and action steps.
Let's get started.

Mike (01:12):
Good afternoon.
This is Mike Farley pool designs.
And we're happy to be here this afternoon.

Trey (01:17):
my name's Trey Farley with Farley pool designs as well.
Oh yeah.
It's 2025.
I know you did an episode alreadybut I was out sick, it's
good to see all y'all.

Mike (01:26):
So we had our Christmas as we talked about last week.
Hopefully I was going to come backand there would be no crutches
or slings or anything like that.
No Walker, no Walker.
All my extremities are still attached.
Same.
Yeah.
And so it was a fantastic ski tripgot to teach my grandkids how to ski.
Which ensures that I get to skifor a long time in the future.

Trey (01:49):
Yes.
Very good insurance.

Mike (01:50):
For sure.
Yes.
Calvin was three and Liana is fiveand they had lots of fun in the
snow and they liked tubing as well.
So that was, it was fun.

Trey (02:01):
Yeah, not much powder out there, but It was skiable for sure.

Mike (02:05):
was skiable.
They're limited on snow so far this year,but we went where they made some snow.
So the snow ended atthe edges of the runs.
But it was a lot of fun.
it's always fun to start a new year.
Look at goals and what we're trying to do.
And that's what we're tryingto figure out as well.

(02:25):
And it's interesting.
We've talked to several people andgot some advice on some things.
Things that we're going to share with you.
Awesome.
what are we going to talk about this week?

Trey (02:35):
So today we're going to be talking about luxury pool design, but
specifically luxury outdoor living.
Which is a huge.
Huge topic that we'redealing with every day.
Yeah.
It's a lot of fun.
Yeah, it is a lot of fun.
the term luxury outdoor living, Ithink it scales and it's different
to a lot of different peopledepending on the perspective.
And we have a veryinteresting perspective.
Me and you both have differentperspectives for sure.

Mike (02:57):
Sure.
And it has to do with I think whereyou start from and where you go.
So was interesting.
I got to go back home and visit withsome family and see them over the
holidays and think about how I grew upthere's essentials and there's luxuries.
And so I grew up,essentials were very basic.
And so luxuries was alot of things above that.

(03:19):
Through exposure and getting to be blessedand serve a lot of different people.
I've got to change those definitionsa little bit of what, you enjoy.
Skiing's a luxury.

Trey (03:30):
Oh, it is.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You probably don't think about thatuntil you can't ski at a certain point.

Mike (03:35):
Yeah that happened for me.
I couldn't ski and wastold not to ski anymore.
Yeah,

Trey (03:40):
you were, which you did not listen.

Mike (03:43):
I've defied that rule.
but I had to change what I did and how Idid it to be able to enjoy that luxury.

Trey (03:50):
I can relate in a way, cause snowboarded the last two years.
it was a luxury last year seeingpeople ski and not fall 24 7.
Like, was okay where I could go downthe mountain, but I would probably
fall a good 10 times on the way down.
It was fun, but it hurt a lot.
It was a luxury seeing otherpeople, not fall and get hurt.
And I got the, Have athat luxury this year.
Yeah, which was nice

Mike (04:11):
traded in the snowboard for some skis Yes,

Trey (04:14):
no bruises this time.

Mike (04:15):
No bruises.
No, cracked helmets.
No, none of that fun stuff or non fun.
But anyway Luxury is somethingthat, as Dre said, comes
from different perspectives.

Trey (04:27):
what's luxury outdoor living to you?

Mike (04:29):
Luxury outdoor living is creating an environment.
That, you can really enjoy, Ithink anything in a backyard
besides grass is building on luxury.

Trey (04:41):
What depends also on the region, because, you might
not have grass in that region.

Mike (04:44):
Okay grass could be a luxury.
We're getting too

Trey (04:46):
deep with it though, but yeah.

Mike (04:48):
If you have a basic backyard, That's what it is.
It's a basic backyard.
You can go out thereand play catch, right?
dog can run around in it.
Exactly.
not a lot of things to do in that space.
Yeah.
Building on that, luxurycan be just a nice patio.
That you have that has some shade over thetop that you can go out and sit and enjoy

(05:10):
that space and maybe eat dinner outsideand just have a place to go and enjoy.
It could be just as simple asthat, that could be a luxurious
setting for a backyard.
And then, you build on that and insteadof just having a place to sit under,
it'd be cool if it had some nice lights.
Yes.
So lighting becomes something that adds ita layer of luxury and that's something you

(05:35):
can add layer upon layer because you cancome in with some down lighting and you
can come some up lighting and you mightadd some string lights and then you might
add some walkway lights and let's addpool lights, which means we added a pool.
Yeah.
Those are all different levels.
And if you've only had somethingthat's very basic, and you've
only had a structure without anylights at all, just to add simple

(05:56):
string lights on it that's luxury.

Trey (05:58):
It is, because like you were saying with the basic backyard,
if you have that, At nighttime,you don't get to enjoy that space.
Even, you know, you let your dogsout, but you can't play catch
in the backyard when it's dark.
When you have those lights, itbreaks down a layer of entry.
A barrier, I guess you could say.
So that is very important.

Mike (06:14):
The next thing is, I've got a patio.
I've got some lights out there.
It would be fun to goout and enjoy the space.
And one of the biggestthings people enjoy is fire.
Yes.
I'm going to go out and I'mgoing to add fire to that space.
That might be as simple as, Ifirst started out as we put stones
out there and, built the campfirelike we did when we went camping.

(06:34):
Yeah.
Okay.
So now we had fire.
Okay.
But there's only so much that'scomfortable cause you have
smoke and things like that.
So you're

Trey (06:43):
also introducing different senses.
So you have, instead of just seeing like,being able to see with the lights, you
can smell the firewood, you can hear itcracking, adding more senses to the human
that we love participate every singleday and you're enhancing the senses of
your backyard, which I think is veryspecial, and you're just adding layers
on top of layers that are gonna helpsnowball into enjoying it even more.

Mike (07:05):
Right.
And other senses that we can look athere in a little bit and some things
that we might be able to, help withthose, but with the fire, then you
look at maybe it would be cool ifI could have something like a solo
stove so I can control the smoke.
So, Now I've got something that's Alittle bit more functional and creates
a little better environment for me.

(07:26):
And so that's a layer of luxury.
And then some people are likelike, to turn a gas key and not
even have to deal with wood.
And so that's a layer of luxury.
And then some people are like Iwant to turn it on electronically
remotely for my phone.
So I don't have to deal withturning things on and off
and adds a layer of safety.
So, Those are all luxury.

(07:46):
Yes.
Okay.
that you're adding on andcreating into a space.
But speaking of senses, so we've got thefire, we've got, the visual effect of it,
if we burn wood we have a smell as well.
I don't think the gas is a greatsmell if you have gas going.

Trey (08:04):
Yeah, it's a bad sign.
You're smelling rotten eggs.
It's Oh, it's not like this thing.
So,

Mike (08:09):
you have other senses that, you're going to appear to in the backyard.
And the next thing is hearing, I wantto hear something in the backyard.
And so that can be a lot of differentthings you could add to create luxury.
But the first thing a lot of peopleadd is just a simple fountain.
So if I can put a fountain in thebackyard, I can create the sound of water.
And if I can create the soundof water, that gives me a

(08:31):
lot of peace and tranquility.

Trey (08:33):
Ties into that blue mind mentality.

Mike (08:35):
Yeah.
So just.
It doesn't have to be something big.
It can be just a small littlefreestanding fountain that you
can go buy at any garden center.
Yeah.
They can create something thatgives a little bit of sound.
Now, those aren't theeasiest things to maintain.
No.
And we don't

Trey (08:52):
typically deal with them either because we're doing
a lot of very big projects.
So we're talking just aboutthe basics of luxury right now.
Yeah, it evolves.
It gets higher.
It's more iconic.

Mike (09:01):
Correct.
So, you know, Someone that goes to ahigher level is like, well, instead
of just You know, a little gardenfountain here that my little pump goes
out and I got to bring my water hoseover and fill, then we're going to
build more of a custom water featurethat may have an auto fill on it.
It may have a filter system on it.
Maybe art piece.

(09:21):
It's got some art piece into it.
Or, maybe I'm going to deal with coyinstead of, maybe it's living art that's
in my water feature or something likethat, but we can add another layer of
element to it, but it's still just,got a water feature and maybe a fire
feature and a patio and, a little bitof cover, some people say the cover,
is needed because you need shade andother people are like I got trees, so

(09:45):
don't necessarily need a cover, butthen maybe I need cover from rain.
Now, again, this all has to do with.
Where you're at different environmentsare going to be different things
that's going to create, the sense ofluxury that you're trying to achieve.
But, I've got somethingthat sounds really cool.
I've got something that looks pretty cool.
I've got a place that I can eat and sit.

(10:06):
Smells good.
Food's cooking.
Oh going to have a kitchen?
Is that what you said?
Yeah,

Trey (10:10):
a kitchen.
That's a luxury that Ireally want to have one day.
An outdoor kitchen.

Mike (10:14):
Beyond the fire pit, we're roasting hot dogs and marshmallows?
Oh, yeah.
Okay, so we're going toactually go full kitchen here.
A bit of kitchen to some people.
Could be as simple as a green egg.
Okay.
So when I started, I had a lot ofclients that had green eggs and
talked about how fabulous they were.
And so I was like, for me to sell this,it would be nice to experience it.

(10:35):
And so I went and got a green eggoff of Craigslist, spent literally
several hundreds of dollars for it.
Threw it in the front seat of mycar because I didn't have a truck
and drove it home, strapped it inbecause the seatbelt said, Hey,
there's someone riding next to you.
So it wouldn't stop beeping,wouldn't stop beeping, but.
green egg, now I've got somethingI can cook in my backyard.

(10:57):
So I've got, simple fountain, maybeI've got some lights and a patio,
and now I've got an outdoor kitchenby just having a green egg then some
people are like that's too much work.
It'd be nice to have a grillthat's a gas powered grill.
So I don't have to deal with lumpcharcoal, although I'll argue with people
all day long on which is better to cookon at this point in time, but then it

(11:21):
becomes don't just want a cart witha grill or a green egg and it's nest.

Trey (11:26):
Yeah.
Standalone.
Roll around.
Little stand.
You want to they're called nests Nest.
Okay.
Sorry, I'm not a uh, green egger.
An egghead.
An egghead.

Mike (11:35):
Yes.
some people are like,Oh, I want a counter.
I'd like a counter that I couldmaybe have some prep space and some
places that I can plate things.
And also along with that, it'd benice to have a place that, I could
have some paper towels, maybe toclean my hands and a trash can.
And let's go and have a refrigerator.

(11:56):
That's where a lot of people start.
That's great.
Yeah.
And then we have people that.
Put everything that you caninside an indoor kitchen outside.
Plus a pizza oven a griddle and,all the things that necessarily
they don't even have inside.
No.
That they incorporate outside.

Trey (12:14):
when they do that, it really blends the lines between
what's inside and what's outside.
Because it becomes, instead oflike, oh, outdoors and indoors,
it becomes different spaces.
Because you have the outdoor spaceto cook, you have the indoor space to
cook, you have the outdoor space toeat, you have the indoor space to eat.
a mirror and also, for me, whatoutdoor luxury is way to enjoy the

(12:35):
outside regardless of the elements.
Rain, snow, wind, all the elements thatpretty much push people inside, taking
that away and putting cover over.
We go backpacking all the time.
I was raised backpacking.
So that itself means a lot to me.
So when you have those covers over thekitchen, or you have maybe a screen

(12:59):
wall, so maybe you want to enjoya view with a vanishing edge, but
you have a screen wall cabana area.
So even when that big gust of windhits that pool, you can still enjoy
the outdoor space, like in the, Covered

Mike (13:10):
patio.
So the client that we were workingwith today picking materials
they wanted to enjoy it longer.
So their level of luxury became screens.
Yes.
So they added screens so theycould block the wind and the
provide shade on two sides.
And then they added heaters in theceiling so we could even extend

(13:32):
the seasons that we're using.
So even when it's cold outside, wecan still crank up the heater and go
outside and cook and eat and have time.
Because thing in blurring thelines between inside and outside,
the huge advantage that we haveis we have The outdoor environment
that's around us to enjoy.

(13:53):
And so one of the things when I waslooking at luxury outdoor living that
they said, and we talked about thisbriefly on trends last week is the
plant material is becoming a bigger.
Part of that environment.
And we're trying to createa setting where we feel like
we're in nature to some extent.

(14:15):
So we've got this bio pholiticdesign field that's brought from,
that's where they take nature inside.
We're just taking, Inside outflipping the concept on its head.
We're just taking all the stuff thekitchen Like you said the dining aspect of
it, but even beyond that, okay So luxuryfor some people is an outdoor shower just

(14:37):
want to go outside and take my shower andbe surrounded by nature and the sounds
and just hearing the wind blowing thetrees and hear the birds and all of the
different things want an outdoor shower.
So I want that aspect outside now.
So to me that's luxury.
Some people I want to sleep outside.
Want a day bed.

(14:57):
Give me a bed outside or a swing thatI can just hang out on and enjoy and
kick back and have a cozy environment,outside, know you like it really cold.
Oh, yeah.
I love it cold.
maybe we could build a day bed andyou can go sleep outside tonight.

Trey (15:15):
It would be very cold.
That's for sure.

Mike (15:17):
It certainly gets below your uh, 60 degree uh, benchmark.
Benchmark.
Yeah.
We're going to 20 tonight.

Trey (15:24):
Oh man.
That's going to be a really cold out atthat have a lot of blankets for sure.
A lot of

Mike (15:29):
blankets.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's even when we're backpackingthat's getting down there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My 30 degree bag wouldbe pushing the limit.

Trey (15:36):
It would be.

BBQ Intro (15:39):
We're going to take a break here for a second
and get into outdoor living.
So with outdoor living, we liketo go to barbecue bits here.
We're going to share some informationof everything that you may want to
consider in your outdoor living space.
As far as features,especially for the kitchen.
Hope you enjoy this.

Mike (15:59):
This is Mike Farley from Poolside Perspective Podcast
and we have a disaster today.
It's been snowing, so wehaven't gone out and cooked.
So, we've got some meat in the fridge thatneeds to be cooked and we're ready to get
it going, but we realized we're withoutour fire starter for our big green egg.

(16:20):
So, We've got to go withan emergency process here.
So this is a littletrick that I've learned.
If you don't have a loofah lighter orsomething cool like that is we're going
to take some oil and we're just going toput a little bit of oil here in a bowl.
then we're going to take some paper towelsand want to put those paper towels in the

(16:40):
bowl itself and have them soak up the oil.
And then we're going to go outand use this as our fire starter.
So we're going to take three piecesof charcoal, they're three or
four inches long, not real thick.
we're going to take these piecesof charcoal and we're going to wrap

(17:01):
them in the oil soaked paper andthen we'll place them in the grill.
So let me set this up.
So now we've got our three pieces ofwrapped up charcoal, we're going to
place them in the green egg here andwe're going to set them up just like
you would your fire starter in hereand then come in and light these guys.

(17:27):
Okay, so you can see we've got a goodbed of coals there, a good bed of
coals there, a good bed of coals there.
So we've got coals from allthree starters going well.
So, uh, we just need to wait for thisgreen aid to get up to, uh, 700 degrees
so we can, uh, cook our ribeyes.

BBQ Ending (17:47):
So I hope you enjoyed the barbecue bits that we just featured today
and we'll have more coming up next week.
If there's something in particular thatyou're interested for, let us know and
we'll get back into the episode now.

Trey (18:01):
I think you're talking about the different clients and
luxury outdoor living differsdepending on the client itself.
Because you have a price tagattached to all these things, but.
it's worth more to certainlike certain items.
Like a lot of people like water features.
Some people don't, somepeople love fire pits.
Some people don't.

Mike (18:19):
So the client that wanted the screens and the heaters, there's
not a water feature on that pool.
Yeah.
No.
To him he's got a pond thathas a water feature in it.
So he's like, I've alreadygot the sound of water.
You don't need to addanything here on my pool.
Yeah.
I want other things that,create a sense of luxury for me.

Trey (18:36):
Yeah.
Shelter is big for him becausehe wants to be outdoors and warm.

Mike (18:40):
So in that particular project, we have a structure that's
specifically for the kitchen.
And then we have another areathat's specifically for the
outdoor TV and the swim up bar ina place to hang out in as well.
Different things.
So some people luxuryis, Hey need a hot tub.
I'm going to go get a freestandinghot tub to put in my backyard.

(19:03):
That's going to giveme the sound of water.
Cause I'm going to heara lot of jets going.
get heated water.
I can have a place to relax.
I can have a place tosocialize with my friends.
I can just chill out and be by myself.
some people that's luxury andother people are like no, want
that attached to a swimming pool.
want aspects that come with that, butin your hot tub aspect, now some people

(19:25):
are like I don't want just a hot tub.
I need a hot tub and achiller and it's very popular

Trey (19:31):
now.

Mike (19:31):
Yeah.
I want to participate and have those,both those situations set up for me.
And some people are like I'm reallyinto wellness and I want a hot tub and
I want a chiller and I want a sauna.

Trey (19:41):
Yeah.
Sauna and then the shower also bakes intothat and then like a patio space, maybe
a turf area where you can do stretches,yoga, ab workouts, whatever it might be.
So that's a huge topic rightnow because it's January, it's
the beginning of the year.
lot of people want to behealthy, want to be fit.

Mike (19:58):
Oh, you're plugging next week's episode.

Trey (19:59):
Am I doing that?
I guess I might be.
Yes, you are.
So.

Mike (20:03):
We've got several of regarding health and wellness, but
next week is specifically that.
So stay tuned for that.
So in a very general specific thing,then we're going to break into several
specifics of some of the things we justmentioned in upcoming weeks as well.

Trey (20:17):
So let me ask you this.
Why do you think luxury outdoor living?
Why do you think there's such a trendin that with homeowners nowadays?

Mike (20:24):
Again, and I've said this on numerous episodes in the
past, I think events occur.
That change lifestyle.
So going back in my career,lifestyle totally changed after 9 11.
what happened after 9 11 is peoplewanted to interact with each other
a lot on the outside environment.

(20:46):
And what happened is what that drove wasthe development of the outdoor porch,
okay, which if you go to a lot of housesthat were built before 99, the back
porches were very small or non existent.
Okay.
I have projects now that, People havemore on their back porch than the

(21:06):
square footage of my house, . So it's

Trey (21:08):
true.
There's, there are some bigback porches that we see.
I mean,

Mike (21:11):
There's some really big ones.
Yeah.
But, people want to live outside.
And so in 1999 after nine 11, peoplewanted to congregate and be together more.
And so they wanted places to hang out.
So the two things that exploded at thatpoint in time was the outdoor kitchen.
. Which.
Before that I could count on one handhow many outdoor kitchens I built.

(21:33):
Wow.
And my first, What wasthat 15 years in my career?

Trey (21:36):
That's really weird for me because I grew in pools and that was like my big
first gig and you know When you start outyou're on the smaller jobs maintaining
and doing punch outs and stuff likethat and even on the small jobs They
have outdoor kitchens and you're talkingabout like a simple egg setup bar top and
stuff like that it's pretty standard forwhat I've seen even at the low levels.
So it's very surprising thatthey didn't have anything at all.

(21:59):
Just a pool.

Mike (22:00):
a pool.
You go look at the houses that werebuilt before 2000 and the pools,
and there was no outdoor kitchens.
Okay.
There weren't big patios.
And so that's the first thingis that occurred and that
changed the industry a lot.
Yeah.
Okay.
So then COVID happened

Trey (22:17):
and COVID

Mike (22:18):
drove people outside to get away from their children.
Yeah.
Okay.
Cause their children are drivingthem nuts after two weeks at home
and everybody's under the same roof.
And so they sent the kids outside or theywent outside and what they realized is.
It's nice out here.
People went on walks and they didthings and It was perfect the time
of year because covid hit what wasit mid march or something like that?

(22:42):
So about four weeks into it you'remid spring the one in the summer The
flowers are blooming the weather'sgreat people are going on walks and
it's kind of like wow, In the eveningspeople hung out and it was like this
is nice And so i'd like to be outhere more and do more Things outside.
The other thing is people realize, wow,if we entertain the kids life is a whole

(23:05):
lot easier and we're not going on vacationsomewhere because we can't travel.
No, it's, everything's locked down.
We're all locked into this cocoon space.
So let's, build out thiscocoon space as much as we can.
Yeah.
And so that's when people starteddoing, and I describe it as
they wanted, Inside outside.
So everything thatoccurs inside the house.

(23:26):
Now there was a demand for it outside.

Trey (23:28):
Yeah, and I'm remembering back I know in Texas and
that's where we're based.
There was a lot of events that couldhappen, but they had to be outside.
There wasn't a lot of stuff happeningindoors like you could eat indoors
with masks on and stuff like that,but you predominantly the businesses
were trying to utilize outdoor spacesbecause of the fresh air, right?
also, if you have a big family,a bunch of different siblings who

(23:49):
knows if they're, doing what they'resupposed to be doing, you don't want
to be inside because, the airflow.
So go get that fresh air.
That just adds to thewhat you're talking about.

Mike (23:58):
So e everybody found out it's nice to have dinner outside.
Oh yeah.
And it's kind of niceto cook a meal outside

Trey (24:05):
or read a book or whatever it might be.
I'll read a book.

Mike (24:07):
So I had one client and we finished their project right before Covid hit.
Okay.
And they said their backyardchanged their lives.
Oh, I bet.
Okay.
And I ran into him.
Nine months later after COVIDand they're like, Oh, this
has been amazing on steroids.
So they created a space thatthey had, I think it was seven

(24:29):
kids under the age of 10.

Trey (24:31):
Okay.
That's a lot.

Mike (24:32):
And they created a pool area and they had a fun slide.
But the other thing they did isin the non pool area, they put.
A fire pit and a splash pad.
Okay.
And it was a pretty good size.
I know what you're talking about.
Yeah.
that splash pad actuallywas the focal point.
If you drove up the driveway, youlooked through the front windows, the

(24:54):
front door, you looked through thehouse and you looked at the splash pad.
So you, as you're driving in theirentry, you can see the splash pad
running at night because it's allled lit and everything like that.
And they said, That every evening theywent out on the back porch and the
kids would play on the splash pad.
And then they would all sit around thefire pit and tell stories and roast

(25:16):
marshmallows and just, have a good time.
They didn't even go into the pool area.
So this was just, they had the sound ofwater, they had the visual effects, they
had the fire and they had a patio area.
And that was phenomenal.
That changed their lives.
Yeah.
Okay.
Then across the fence, they had thepool and the slide and then the outdoor
kitchen, the outdoor living area.

(25:36):
And this is the neighbor.
Oh, this is their glass.

Trey (25:40):
I gotcha.
Yeah.

Mike (25:41):
Across their glass

Trey (25:42):
fence.
Different section of the yard.

Mike (25:44):
So they had from a safety standpoint, the two areas separated,
but they wanted to be able to see them.
Yeah.
They had two cabanas.
One was a living room and a bathroomand the other one was the full kitchen
and then they had an outdoor kitchenand then they had the shade structure
in between that had all kinds of tablesand built in TVs and stuff like that.

(26:04):
again, luxury is just somethingthat, is giving you the luxury.
Something beyond just a plain space.
But there's layers upon layers of that.
So it's, cars are similar.
Some people are like, I can go geta Lexus and that's a luxury car.
And other people arelike, that's a basic car.

Trey (26:24):
I thought a Lexus was a luxury car growing up.
I didn't know much about cars at all, butI knew that the car rode really smooth.
And the seats were very comfyand it had a couple of features
that I didn't see in the, civicsthat we were driving at the time.
So my perspective at that age,I thought that was luxury.

Mike (26:40):
So do you still think that's luxury?

Trey (26:42):
Yeah, I know Lexus makes an amazing car.
Now the 1999 Alexis that I thoughtwas luxury back then, probably not
as much, because of maintenanceand all that kind of stuff too,

Mike (26:53):
but, you've seen other cars and there's other layers upon that.
We got our Honda pilot, andwe got it and we thought, we
got another layer of luxury.
We got heated seats.

Trey (27:03):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Steering wheel.
Yeah.
Big console, those are the

Mike (27:07):
things that, when you go on a ski trip, those are nice to have.

Trey (27:10):
Oh yeah.
A lot of space.
The big screen for the GPS.
So yeah, that is a luxury.
but our family doesn't spenda lot of money on cars.
So a lot of people are probablyhearing this and they're like,
what are you talking about?
That's like a standard now.
just a perspective.

Mike (27:23):
We buy our cars and drive them into the ground.
Yes.

Trey (27:26):
And then replace the engine and drive them more.

Mike (27:29):
It's just, everybody's different.

Trey (27:31):
I want to ask you a question.
What distinguishes a luxuryoutdoor space from a standard
backyard set up in your opinion?

Mike (27:38):
It's about the craftsmanship and the layers of.
Details in the layers ofoptions that you give somebody.
So my feeling is, I'd rathertell people about things.
And have them go, okay,you pushed my line too far.
Yeah, okay.
I don't need that, that's stupid.

Trey (27:58):
Yeah, that's

Mike (27:59):
absurd.
but I'd rather tell somebody aboutsomething like that versus later on
than why nobody even mentioned thatto me, and that would've been really
cool to do, and now I can't do that.
So some people would say an inforcleaning system for a swimming pool is.

Trey (28:18):
I've heard that many times but typically they don't have them.

Mike (28:21):
And everybody that I've almost talked to is like, okay, I'm into my
life and I want to enjoy my thingsas low maintenance as possible.
And so if this gives me a layer.
Of luxury and the fact that my poolcleans itself without having to have

(28:42):
a pool cleaner come in or a robotrun around on the bottom of my pool.
That's a layer of luxurythat I certainly want.
So a majority of our clients.
It's a majority of our clients,but everybody, again, is
different of where that line is.
So my feeling is it's better toexpose them to something than

(29:05):
have them no knowledge whatsoever.
Yeah.
So there was a designer inthe pool industry years ago
and his name was Lou Eakins.
Okay.
And Lou's philosophy was youtell them about everything.
So you tell them about solar heating,you tell them about in for cleaning,
you tell them about, all tile pools, youtell them about, water features and, fire

(29:26):
features and all these different things.
And he said, challenge is if youtell them about everything and
include all the things involved init there's two ways to go about it.
So one is.
You basically expose them toeverything and give them the number
of where you're going to start.
he said, then they're shockedonce and then they peel layers
off that aren't important to them.

(29:47):
And most of the time, most people aren'taware of all the options that are there.
They end up.
With what's best for them.
But a lot of times they're like, I wasn'tplanning on spending this, but now that
I'm aware of these different things, thisis the investment that I want to make.
And I have some clients that evenlike, I'd rather a client wait a
year and do what's right for them.

(30:09):
Then build something and notinform them about something and
then have them later on regret it.

Trey (30:14):
Well, It makes sense because you want to build their dream.
You want to design their dream.
And so if they don't even knowwhat's possible, then they don't
even know what they can dream of.

Mike (30:24):
And the challenge is someday they'll find out what's possible and
then later on they'll be like howcome you didn't talk to me about that?
Exactly.
Okay.
And there's some of those thingsthat you could then add on later on.
Some of them.
Some of them.
Yeah.
But some of them you're too late.

Trey (30:39):
Yeah.
Or it's just way more costs thanit would have be originally.

Mike (30:43):
It's better to, inform them so that they make educated decisions.
So to me, luxury is giving them.
What's ideal for them that pointgoes back and forth with everybody.
somebody that's never had a pool, neverhad a spa and never had an outdoor
kitchen, never had a patio, theirlayer of luxury is certainly lower

(31:06):
than somebody that's they're sittingthere designing their dream home.
And they're in their sixties and this isthe last one they're going to ever build.
And this is Fifth pool that they'vedone, the definitions are different.

Trey (31:17):
Yeah, it would take the floor system example Someone that first builds their
pool might not even think oh, it's justa cleaner All I got to do is reach into
the pool and pull the cleaner out andempty the bag That's all I got to do.
That's nothing and then they haveto do that in the middle of winter
And they realize that it sucks andthen they also realize that hey
seeing that long hose around my pool.
That's beautiful It's not aestheticallypleasing to me anymore and so the next

(31:39):
time they might get a floor system,

Mike (31:41):
right?
again.
I tell people that with a four system Isay people that have had a pool before
ones that want this when I tell themabout it, the persistent energy is very
high Now that's not necessarily thecase on somebody that's never had a pool
But on returning people, it's higher.
It's higher because they have a knowledgebase of yes, how much a cleaner I'm tired

(32:03):
of it breaking every year and me goingdown and having it repaired So I'd rather
have something that's a low maintenancesystem that you know takes care of it

Trey (32:11):
That's a good thing about you.
You explain the options to peoplethat they don't know what exists yet
So Even those first time clients areeducated on that, on that decision.

Mike (32:21):
I want them to be a repeat client.
It's all self motivated.
So I'm all about, tryingto make them happy.
So then they come back and see me again.
everybody's a little bit different intheir philosophy, but that's to me the
difference between basic and luxury.
I can't define that for the client.
So I can give them informationso they can make that definition.

Trey (32:40):
Okay.
Let me ask you another question.
Are there specific materials,designs, or brands associated
with high end outdoor living?
Because there are when it comesto other different products,
different industries, right?
You have high end phones.
You have the iPhone, whateverelse that is out there.
Cause I only use iPhone, butyou know what I'm saying?

Mike (32:59):
well You got high end cars, you got high end watches, you got high
end, jewelry, lots of different things.
So shoes, clothes.
ran across several things.
So first thing would be materials.
Okay.
So materials, we're pickinga kitchen countertop today.
Are we going to do deck ton?
Are we going to do granite?
Are we going to do limestone?

(33:19):
Are we going to do tile?
Oh, you don't do concrete?
No, I don't do concrete.
Again, different parts of thecountry, different products work
better, the client, it came down to.
We're certainly not going to dolimestone because it stains very
badly over a period of time.
Yes.
And we don't have soapstone inthis part of the country, which
is really a good countertop.
I understand that's used a lot back East.

(33:41):
So we're looking at granite andwe're looking at Dekton and we're
looking at a black material andblack granite and black Dekton are.
There's some substantial costdifference based on the amount
of counters that I have here.
And so what was best forthem was a black granite.
Are there materials thatare considered luxurious?

(34:01):
Granite and Dekton are certainly.
A lot more luxurious versus the countertopthat I dealt with over the weekend, which
was all tile with wide grout joints.
And I was like, man, Ihaven't seen this in decades.
But when I did those fivekitchens back before 1999, That's
predominantly what most peopleused on their countertops was tile.

Trey (34:25):
Spilling a lot of drinks.

Mike (34:26):
And everything shimmied around a little bit and the
grout joints got filthy.
They were always trying toclean them and stuff like that.
And so

Trey (34:35):
You know, the grout fades.
So

Mike (34:37):
luxury to go from there was to go to a limestone counter cause
it's just one piece and you couldseal it, but that stained horribly.
So to move up from that luxury wasthen, you know, a granite countertop
and some people like, but I don'tlike the way the granite looks.
And I really like this Dekton thatlooks like marble so it gives me

(34:57):
this marble finish, but I don'thave any maintenance issues.
There's zero maintenance on this.
So again, that would be materials.
said materials.
I do

Trey (35:06):
want to.
At a point, I thinkwith you is interesting.
Yeah.
with the materials thing a lot of peopleI'd assume are just looking at the
aesthetics of things and you like divinginto the weeds and letting people know
about maintenance, and that's also aboutthe functionality of the materials, which
you're, you already pointed out in the.
What you just talked about, butI just want to make that a kind

(35:28):
of a little bit more obvious.

Mike (35:29):
There are some people that view this whole thing as art.
Exactly.
Okay.
And is art basically you're limitedby what's going to look the best.
Okay.
So there is reality of howthings function sometimes.
Time is a factor.
Okay.
what you have to look at is there'ssome things that, I point out to

(35:49):
clients, this is going to be beautiful.
But there's going to be moremaintenance to it over time.
It, and some people are like, youknow what, then I'm fine with pivoting
over here and using this because it'snot quite as beautiful, but I'm into
what's going to be low maintenance.
And to me, that's fine.
I'm not creating art.
I'm creating what's best for my client.

Trey (36:10):
There are options like Dekton that are functionally
sound and also aesthetically.
Beautiful.

Mike (36:16):
But you got to weigh all these different things to come up
with what's best for the client.
What's my philosophy iswhat's best for the client.
Some people's philosophy is we'regoing to create object of beauty in
the backyard and no, you can't usethat because it's more functional.
It's not as pretty.
And so we want to use just this.
So then

Trey (36:35):
they take the pictures really quickly.
And then a couple of yearslater, they hate the guy,

Mike (36:40):
but

Trey (36:41):
it was

Mike (36:41):
beautiful.

Trey (36:41):
It was at the time.

Mike (36:43):
but there's some people that are like, and I'm fine
with that and I'll go fix it.
Cause it'll still be beautiful and Ican keep it beautiful all the time and
I'm willing to pay the expense or it'susually pay the expense to fix it.
But that's fine.
Everybody's differentin that interpretation.
To me, there's not a right or wrong.
It's again, what's best for the client.

(37:03):
So

Trey (37:04):
the next one was brands.
So this is a little tricky.

Mike (37:07):
So brands are the certain brands that.
Equivalent with luxury.
There's a

Trey (37:12):
bunch of different companies that come to my head.
So the

Mike (37:14):
first one that comes to me is Tucci.
Yes.
Okay.
As an umbrella.
That is a brand creates something that'svery well crafted and is beautiful.
And there's a lot of differentoptions, but that's a, it's certainly
a luxurious umbrella versus, yougo down and get an umbrella store.
Now.

(37:34):
So what a lot of people arelooking at today is they want
something that's sustainable.
And so what they're looking at issomething that I'm not going to
use for a season and throw it away.
Okay.
I'm looking for something that'sgoing to stay here for 15 or 20 years.
And so you look at thingsdifferently when you look at that.
but then some people are like, whyin the world do I buy something

(37:55):
that's going to last 20 years?
I don't know if I'm goingto be in this house too.
you know, Your perspective is differenton that, they make a, Fabulous thing.
So there's different, materialsthat you're going to look at
that fit that type of situation.
There's different lines of furniture.
There's different, features that youcan put on The pool itself you know,

(38:16):
lighting's a big deal right now.
So, PAL makes a tremendous productfrom a lighting standpoint.

Trey (38:23):
For trim lighting, yeah.

Mike (38:24):
But there's a lot more that goes into installing that type of feature.
Yeah.
Again, is that worth the cost thecapabilities of what it can do?
Again, everybody has toweigh that type of thing out.
Yeah.

Trey (38:37):
Yeah, landscaping, elegant greenery.
That's a big one too.
necessarily brands, but maybeyou're the, tree hugger.
You're the expert.
Maybe there are differenttypes of uh, plants that are.
Brands

Mike (38:48):
of plants.
No, there'd be more types.
There's certain nurseries that havecreated certain types of plants
and hybrids that, create certainthings that are really good.
I'm not as much a plant geek as I used tobe, but there were a Particular nurseries
that were well known in the landscapeindustry that created certain hybrids

(39:08):
over time so that can be something buttypically plants aren't a brand so no,

Trey (39:13):
They're not the next questions I had We're talking about trends.
what are the latest trendsin outdoor living design?

Mike (39:20):
There's certain trends that have come up and we discussed those
a lot last week in the episode.
So if you're looking at certain thingsthat are trends for luxury you want
to, if you haven't checked out thatepisode, go back and listen to that.
don't want to recap all that, even thoughyou were sick and just cut out on me.

Trey (39:36):
Well, I had 102 fever for three days.

Mike (39:39):
I guess we didn't want you to get spider sick.
He's behind the glass, so hewould have probably been safe.
You never know though.
Yeah, that's true.
Germs go everywhere.

Trey (39:48):
These days, people are talking crazy.
You hear about the fog.
People are saying that it's hurting peoplenow, giving people flu like symptoms.

Mike (39:55):
So it was probably on the news, and so I don't know anything about it.
Yeah.
So I don't listen to the news.
Yeah,

Trey (40:00):
there's just a bunch of crazy stories going around these days.
But the next thing I wanted to talk aboutwas how our Technology and smart features
being integrated into outdoor spaces.

Mike (40:08):
So we talked actually about that on trends last really as well Yes, and
I said electronics would all be aboutyou understanding things because I don't
know much about electronics But you wantto go check out that episode, the two
things tech wise the smart kitchens arebecoming a bigger thing and You know
so you can control everything from yourphone You they even have those situations

(40:31):
that you can set up, your pellet grill.
So it almost works as good as a green egg.
So close.
Anyway and it's supposedlyless maintenance because you
can control all these things.
But also with lighting, outdoor lighting,there's a lot of things in tech that's
taking place that, check that out.

Trey (40:45):
Oh yeah.
And it definitely, if you get apool nowadays, You need to make sure
you can control it from a phone.
Cause we'll hear that one story wherethe guy did it, the old computer style,
like an amazing job and then justinstalled this like old style computer
where they had to go turn everything.
He

Mike (41:00):
didn't even do a computer.
He did time.
Time clock.
That's what it was.
Yeah.
Time clock.
Yes.
So if you're getting a pool and they'regoing to give you a time clock run,
because you need, Everything to becontrolled from a computer and everything
then can be controlled from your phone butthe other thing is what's really, if you
get into a Lighting aspects the LED lightsthat are used outside in the environment

(41:25):
as well as in pools But outdoorliving structures landscape lighting.
There's a lot of cool stuffwith the LED lights in that

Trey (41:33):
Oh, yeah, and just another little tidbit.
I want to add on there.
used Jandy products A lot.
It doesn't matter about thebrand, but there is the technology
now where it used to be.
There's a certain amount ofauxiliaries, so you can have a
certain amount of features orwhatever might be on a computer.
And now they're havingmore stuff electrical.
And it's just really cool cause it opensup the space without having to up the ante

(41:54):
of the cost for computer, which is nice.
And then the lights also, you can changethe lights a lot easier these days.
styles is a very important topicwhen it comes to luxury design.
Is there, know there'slike Mediterranean styles.
There's the simplistic modern styles.
There's a bunch ofdifferent styles out there.
What comes to your mind when youthink of luxury outdoor living

Mike (42:15):
from a style standpoint?

Trey (42:16):
Well, If someone's talking about styles in that general area, because my
opinion differs from yours, I'm sure.
And it's not stylespredominantly that you.
Like the most, but justwhen you think is trendy.
Which is hard to answer when it comesto us, because we don't have a style.
Our style is what the customer likes.

(42:38):
we can do it all.

Mike (42:38):
What I think, let me spin this around this way.
Okay.
So the thing from a luxury standpoint isyou can be more Authentic in what you're
representing from a style standpoint.
So materials, for example, when I firstgot into the industry, my materials

(42:59):
were located from a hundred mile radius.
So my materials today are worldwide.
They are.
I'm getting materialsfrom all over the world.
So it's not uncommon to get stoneimported from all kinds of different

Trey (43:16):
places.
Turkey, Mexico.
You name it.

Mike (43:18):
so we did a project this last year, which style wise was totally organic.
Was all boulders.
It's a beautiful job.
We typically source theboulders out of Oklahoma.
Not this time.
Not this time.
We wanted a certain color.
Yeah.
So we looked around and we finallyfound a quarry up near Aspen.
That we had to literally waitfor the snow to melt for them

(43:41):
to be able to get the boulders.
And then at the end, it was like, okay,if you want any more, you better hurry.
Cause it's fixing to shut downbecause the quarry is going to be
shut down again for the winter again.
Yeah.
So we only had a certain window, butwe were able to get a certain color.
that's the cool thing is you can bringin features, I want this particular look.

(44:02):
That was a limestone watertrough that was used in France.
Hundreds of years ago, and we'regoing to take that now, make it a
water feature because it fits thestyle of what we're trying to create.
So we can go get things that aregoing to be more authentic to the
design style that we're trying tocreate by being able to source things

(44:25):
from a lot of different places.
Know that doesn't answer theexact question that you had, but

Trey (44:29):
it's, a good answer.

Mike (44:31):
I don't think there's a style that says luxury, although

Trey (44:34):
that's true.

Mike (44:35):
Yeah.
There are some people that what goesto luxury is where do I go on vacation?
Okay.
Okay.
So to me, that is the luxurious place.
It's paradise.
That's paradise.
And so I want to create that.
In my home environment.
Okay.
But that could be Greece.

(44:56):
That could be the Caribbean.
That could be Alaska.
It could be a lot of differentplaces that I get that feel of
luxury that I want to duplicatethose encompass all different styles.
So it's just, what your definition is.
And the fun thing is that's the fun of me.
My job is when somebody says,This is what I want to carry.

(45:20):
I want to create this feeling fromThailand the resort there had, and
I want to incorporate some of thoseelements here in my backyard, the

Trey (45:29):
plants, the architecture, the environment, the features, everything,

Mike (45:33):
you know, Versus, oh, I want this, setting in Greece, which is
totally different, or I want someplacein Italy, that's totally different.
Or I want to go to Japan and I wantthis particular feel or, I'm now
in New Zealand and I want this.
I mean, That's the fun is you cancreate all those different fields.
Yeah.
Now, of course, it would requirea road trip for me to travel

(45:54):
there to get it really authentic.

Trey (45:55):
Of course, you got to get the inspiration.
You got to be there.
Put your feet on the ground.
In the sand.
Yeah.
What are key considerations when designingfor families, couples or solo relaxation?
Yeah.
What differs between those?

Mike (46:08):
What differs between a solo versus a couple versus a family?

Trey (46:13):
Well, design stuff for all different sizes of families.

Mike (46:16):
Here's the thing I tell people.
The first thing I want tounderstand is how long do you
think you're going to be here?
Generally, you're there longerthan you think you're going to be.
Typically,

Trey (46:27):
we do have those people that like going through the process and then they
flip the house and it sells a lot morethan a lot of people say you build a pool.
You're going to waste your money.
You got to live there, but it doesn'tseem to be the case these days.

Mike (46:39):
If it's well done,

Trey (46:40):
exactly, that's Okay, if it's well done.

Mike (46:43):
So if it's luxurious,
funny thing is I've designedenvironments for all those
situations and then they change.
So have to think about things.
I designed a pool very early in mycareer and they were triathletes.
Husband and wife this isin Northern California.
And they're like, we want a a 75foot long lap pool, six feet wide.

(47:06):
And I was like, that's it 75 by six.
And they're like, yeah, 75 by six.
And I said, what if we make a littleof it bigger at some point that.
You can use it as somethingother than a lap pool.
Oh, we don't, we don't use it foranything other than a lap pool.

Trey (47:21):
We get like a swim jet or swim lane or whatever it's called.
Oh,

Mike (47:24):
They were all about the, know, the length and, doing a flip turn.
They don't like treadmills.
Yeah, I get it.
And Again, this is early in my career.
This is about 1995.
There wasn't a lot ofthings that performed well.
They didn't exist.
Okay.
So that makes sense.
Yeah.
So we want 75 feet long.
I talked him into, I said, How about wetake 10 feet off and make it 65 feet long.

(47:47):
And then we make it instead of six feetin one point, we make it 16 feet wide.
Now the perimeter is exactly the same.
So the cost is the same

Trey (47:56):
for people that are listening.
What is the perimeter?
You, okay.
It's the distance

Mike (47:58):
around.
So it ended up the same.
So I made this pool and.
In the middle was an area where youcould float around and hang out.
And there was a little bit of a ledge.
And it was actually, it was funny.
That was the very first sheerdescent that I ever did.

Trey (48:13):
Oh, wow.

Mike (48:14):
Stainless steel.
They just started making them.
The company whose name was Oricand they're still in business.
And it was a 12 inch long Sure.
Descent.
And that 12 inch year descent was likefour or 5, 000 because they were using
such a high grade of stainless steeland they were the very first ones
that were doing this thing anyway.

(48:34):
So it was really cool.
And so I did this,bumped it out, made this.
And so three years laterI go back to visit.
There's a kiddie fence around the pool.

Trey (48:43):
Oh no.

Mike (48:44):
this couple was like, we're never having kids.

Trey (48:46):
What?
Okay.

Mike (48:48):
This is just for exercise.

Trey (48:49):
That's what happens when you say you're never having kids.
You end up pregnant.

Mike (48:54):
Anyway.

Trey (48:54):
It tends to happen.

Mike (48:55):
they were, they said, we're so glad you made us bump
this part out in the middle.
Cause otherwise we wouldhave sold the house and left.
But we still have a functional pool.
And so you want to think aboutthings as you're designing that
if things don't ever change, that.
You're still happy, but that it might havesome flexibility of function for somebody

(49:16):
else or your situation may change.

Trey (49:19):
Yeah, what if they did sell the house?
It would have been a hard time To sellthat pool originally that they had in mind

Mike (49:25):
i'm sure it probably was if they've ever sold it I don't know.
Yeah, I should go on google mapsand see if it's ever been modified

Trey (49:32):
Oh, if it's in california, it's still worth

Mike (49:33):
quite a bit of money.
issue is, you know I had a client Ideveloped a whole backyard for and
they were like we're into total outdoorentertainment And we want to slide
because I said, why do you want to slide?
You don't have kids andthey're like, we're adults.
We want to have fun.
And I was like, okay, I'm totally into it.
But then, after we finishedtheir project, they had three
kids in the next five years.

(49:54):
that wasn't the intent whenthey designed the space.
Now they're buildinga new place right now.
So it's been about six, sevenyears and the slide has gotten
three to four times bigger andthey had a long slide comparatively
in that time period while they

Trey (50:09):
upgraded.

Mike (50:09):
So they're doing a massive slide now and a big pool and stuff like that.
Everything, people change.
Okay, a slide, I built those tons ofthem and then all of a sudden, right
before COVID hit, and we talked aboutthis in the dolphin slide episode,
all of a sudden, people wantedlonger slides and after COVID, it
was like the thing went on steroids.
I do more non standard 15 footslides, I do more customs than

(50:34):
I do standards these days.
Yeah.
Anyway.
But everybody's,

Trey (50:38):
Everybody is different.
does climate and geography influenceluxury outdoor living, in your opinion?
Because you've designedin two different spots.
California.
And you also know a bunch of differentpeople that do different things.
Like for instance I met a guy at the showin Canada when they plaster the pool, they
have to, and this isn't really design.
This is more of the process ofgetting a pool done, but they have to

(51:00):
tent everything when they plaster it.
Cause it's so cold up there and whenit cures, they don't want it too cold.
But with design for luxury outdoor living.

Mike (51:08):
Luxury outdoor living in the north or the east where it's cold.
They do heated decks.

Trey (51:15):
Really?
Yeah.
I didn't know that was a thing.
Sure.
Wow, okay, that's cool.
It melts

Mike (51:21):
the snow.

Trey (51:21):
Yeah, do that on sidewalks as well to the ballpark.
I think the bills open.
That's interesting.

Mike (51:28):
there's things like that, that we don't deal with that I know exists
but the other thing is there arepeople that also have enclosures.
So they can then heat thatspace and continue to swim,
for a longer period of time.
So that's something that'scommon in some other areas.
Pool covers.

Trey (51:47):
Yeah.
That's what I was thinking.

Mike (51:48):
It can become a very big deal.
So like you go to Utah,almost every pool has a cover.
They keep it heated.
So they can keep the thing heated andextend the season as long as they can.
Yeah.
a big deal in certainparts of the country.
you know, In certain partsof the country, they shut the
pool down in the winter time.
But in certain parts of thecountry, heaters are, we're in
Texas, it's Nice thing to have.

(52:09):
Yeah.
Up there it's a really.
A requirement.
It just, we want toenjoy the season longer.
We need the capability to

Trey (52:16):
go longer.
Cold season's longer too.
And probably in like California orFlorida, you don't have that situation,

Mike (52:22):
misters are a big deal in Arizona.
Cause if you do misting, it really createsa much more comfortable environment
because it's so hot and it's so dry.
Yeah.
Okay.
But you put a mister on in Houstonand it's the most worthless piece
of garbage in the world because thehumidity level is already so high.
Misting is just goingto make everything wet.
Yeah.

(52:42):
Okay.
It's not creating a nice environment.
and I have people come from certain partsof the country and they're like, I want
this because we had it where I lived.

Trey (52:51):
Oh yeah.
Saltwater is a big one with that.
Yeah.

Mike (52:54):
If you come from Florida or California, if you go back and listen
to our episode on saltwater, there'scertain things in those environments
that make it more conducive forsalt versus it's a disaster.
Uh, not that it's wrong in certain partsof the country, but in certain parts of
the country, more likely, yeah, there'sgoing to be more problems associated with

Trey (53:16):
it.
So tiles like that to glass tile,

Mike (53:18):
Okay, there's certain ceramic tiles that are porous that
you can use in Florida, Arizona,California, because it doesn't freeze.
Okay.
But in, here, Tonight, it's goingto go down to 20 degrees in Texas.
We're not accommodatedto cold temperatures.
So we all freak out and Ishouldn't say we all they do.

(53:41):
sit and laugh, but when they talkabout everybody gets off the roads, I
get off the roads because everybody'scrazy when they're driving in ice and
snow and stuff like that in Kansascity, they laugh hysterically at us.
I'm sure in other parts of the country.
But you've got.
that freezing temperature nowand you've got water absorbing
in the tile and it shatters.

Trey (54:00):
Yeah, I'm sure in the DFW there's going to be a bunch
of tile that pops off tonight.

Mike (54:03):
Not necessarily.
There's

Trey (54:05):
so many pools

Mike (54:06):
and

Trey (54:07):
not everyone, builds them with your expertise.

Mike (54:10):
Okay.
There's certain things thatthey should perform well.
But if they're not installedproperly, there could be problems.

Trey (54:16):
Yeah.
Are there cultural influences thatinspire unique outdoor living designs?

Mike (54:20):
certain cultures like to cook differently.
Yeah.
Okay, there's certain aspectsthat if you understand how they're
going to use the space that youwould create the proper situation.
case example.
There's different types ofgriddles that you might use.

(54:42):
From a cultural standpoint, there's somepeople that will use like an Evo griddle.
It's around griddle.
And they're all going to be seated aroundthis and it's an interaction thing.
kind

Trey (54:54):
of
Like when I go to Hibachior something like that.
So

Mike (54:57):
from a cultural standpoint, that's one situation that some people, and they,
some people cook on different methods.
Like a Santa Maria grill whereit's mainly like a spit that's
moving up and down over the coals.
That would be one of the things that,you know, if you understood the culture.

(55:18):
You could create the best situationfor them for how they cook.

Trey (55:22):
like my fiance's family Italian and Polish, they love
pizza They would love to havea pizza oven in their backyard.
Actually, they do, a wood one.

Mike (55:31):
Almost everybody wants a pizza oven today, so.
but yes, culturally, some people are muchmore adept at cooking on it than others.
That's true.
Uh, But, again, if you investigatehow the family's going to live, some
people from a culture standpoint arelike, we talked with Scott Cohen a
couple of weeks ago that are verymuch into, he's in California and the

(55:54):
wine industry out there is real big.
And so a lot of people are really intodifferent wines and things like that.
So how he builds and creates thingsto set up, they've got, it could be
as simple as the drop in cooler isdeep enough to handle a wine bottle.
Yeah.
Okay.
That's.
Just something that you have to talkto people about so you understand how

(56:17):
they're going to use the space so we puta wine chiller into the space as well.

Trey (56:25):
so when it comes to luxury outdoor living, are there any
true crimes that come to mind?

Mike (56:29):
Lots of true crimes.

Trey (56:31):
I bet we've covered a lot, but is there any in particular
that come to your head today?

Mike (56:35):
The first thing that comes to my mind is.
There are countless companiesthat put luxury in their name.

Trey (56:42):
Okay.

Mike (56:43):
Let's say they are Luxury XYZ.
Yeah.
And there was a company that I know ofand they designed the perfect luxury pool.

Trey (56:56):
That's nice.

Mike (56:56):
Okay.
So the designer was like, thisis the perfect luxury pool.
Yeah.
He built that pool down in Austin.
He started his own pool companyand he built that pool 23 times.
Oh.
In one neighborhood.

Trey (57:11):
Oh.
So it's like a birdhousebuilder when it comes to homes.
It's like a mass production thing.
He

Mike (57:16):
said it's the perfect pool.
So he told everybody after they talked tohim, I've got the perfect pool for you.
Interesting.

Trey (57:23):
One size fits all.

Mike (57:25):
One size fits all.

Trey (57:26):
That doesn't seem like luxury.

Mike (57:28):
That's what I'm saying.
This was a crime because therewas nothing custom about this.
No, it doesn't.
He said if the fences blew down, theneighbors would all get after him because
they all thought they had a unique.
Situation and he designed thesame thing over and over again.

Trey (57:42):
Oh, and now we got drones too.
Hopefully they're not testflying in their backyards.

Mike (57:45):
Today, some people would say everybody does a rectangle.
So what does it matter?
think that if you're goingto Get a luxury product.
You need to know about what's possibleand for you to end up with the same pool
as everybody else in your neighborhood.
Be pretty far fetched.
So I think that was acrime that he talked.

(58:08):
To everybody about this being theperfect thing and actually what
drove me nuts is in his luxury.
Perfect pool.
His spa was six foot around,which we talked about in the past.
Yes.
About a six foot round spot.
Yeah.
A true crime.
Yeah.
Anyway.
So this was on his perfect pool.
But The crime is where somebody is sayingthey're going to provide luxury, but they

(58:34):
do the same thing on every single job.
Yeah.
Because clients are different.
So luxury should be differentfor different people and so there
should be variety and options andThings like that for you to end
up with what's the true luxury.

Trey (58:49):
Luxury should be custom fitted.
It should be tailored toyour needs So your wants.

Mike (58:52):
Yeah.
Yes.
So this is the difference between aStore bought suit and a custom made suit.
Yeah.
Okay.
One is luxurious and one is not.
Yeah.
Okay.
Even something that's, you know, people

Trey (59:06):
are built different.
And also on top of that, peoplehave different comfortable levels.
Like some people like skinny pants.
Some people like loose pants.
It just everyone's different.

Mike (59:15):
So your custom situation is going to take all your personal situations,
make you thinking about those.
Not just saying, okay, these areyour custom things and I'm just
going to give you what you ordered.
Okay, but I'm going to make youthink about what about this?
If you consider this and how touse this and incorporate this
and, accessorize it with this.

(59:36):
So you come up with the best scenario.
So anyway, to me that's the crimewhere you spend a lot of money.
And you got just dealt the samething everybody else has got dealt.

Trey (59:48):
Yeah.
How special is that?
So moving on let's talk aboutwe took a little break and
you were mentioning the TV.

Mike (59:57):
Well, We talked about all the senses and some people, the sense
of sound is very important to them.
Yeah.
And so they want to incorporateour natural thing since we deal
with outdoor living spaces is wethink people want to hear water.
Yeah.
And hear the sound of thewater crackle, crackling.
Well, If the water crackling,I guess the ice is breaking up.
Or you have a

Trey (01:00:18):
lot of acid in that pool or something.

Mike (01:00:21):
no, you want to hear the wood crackle and the water gurgle
and all those particular sounds.
But some people sound thatthey want to hear is music.
They want to hear the musicin their natural setting and
outdoor space and enjoy that.
But they want something with a reallygood sound stereo system incorporated.

(01:00:41):
And then added to that is somepeople are very much into outdoor
entertainment as in they want to theater.
So they got the theater inside the house,they want the theater outside as well.
And so it used to be we put, TV abovethe fireplace and that was a big deal.
And then some people were likeI need a little bit bigger TV.

(01:01:03):
And so I need a littlebit wider fireplace.
And now.
You've got CC TV that, it's144 inches that pops up out
of the ground and unfolds.
And, you've got, that, or, somepeople want TV walls now, I mean,
it's the whole wall of a structure,so they're all inspired by Jerry

(01:01:23):
Jones and his big screen TV and,
you know,

Trey (01:01:26):
It's funny when I went to Cancun, sound was a big deal
cause I, I've been around a lotof nice pools that are outside.
Having that constant music, just settingthat vibe was just another notch.
But it's funny when you say TVs becauseI'm the guy that's when I'm at an outdoor
venue, they're playing the game and Idon't want to hear the background music.

(01:01:46):
I want to hear the game.
So everyone differs alittle bit, you know?

Mike (01:01:50):
Right.
but sound, again, you have tounderstand the client and what
they're looking for to come up with.
But, there's a lot of people that,that's the more important thing.
And so they don't want a lot ofwater features to compete with
the sound of the music that'sgoing on or the sound of the game.

Trey (01:02:07):
Yeah, exactly.
Just depends on their preference.

Mike (01:02:09):
But there's all kinds of levels of luxury and we're going to dive into
a lot of details this upcoming year.
And so what would really beimportant for us to understand is
what is something of luxury thatyou would like more information on.
If you could share that with us we havequite a few things teed up already for

(01:02:32):
the year that are going to be really cool.
But the input from youis extremely helpful.
You can reach us on our social media.
You can reach out to Farley Pool Designs.
We have a YouTube channel.
We have comment

Trey (01:02:45):
down below guys, keep the conversation flowing,

Mike (01:02:47):
The Instagram account as well as a podcast account.

Trey (01:02:51):
Yep.
So I think that's a prettygood, luxury outdoor living.
We've covered a lot of the basisof that topic itself, but we'll

Mike (01:02:59):
go in

Trey (01:02:59):
more depth.

Mike (01:03:00):
Oh, there's a lot more depth to get into.

Trey (01:03:02):
Oh yeah.
There was a lot of stuff.
We didn't mention a lot of differentfeatures, a lot of different.
Yeah.

Mike (01:03:06):
One thing also just is the incorporation of art.
Okay.
In the outdoor space, and that's somethingthat we're getting more and more into.
And just in how to display thingsand create focal points and, what
those elements might be againto individual to the customer.
And so that's a lot offun to work with as well.

Trey (01:03:28):
Yeah, sounds good.
I think that's good for this episode.

Mike (01:03:31):
Yeah, we'll look forward to talking to y'all soon Have a good one.
Have a good year

Trey (01:03:35):
Happy new year.
Oh, yeah

Outro (01:03:37):
This show is all about helping you become a better
buyer, a better pool owner.
And hopefully you're going to find someinsights into how to enjoy your pool, even
more so how to help your friends, yourfamily, anybody looking to buy a pool in
the future or that want to remodel theirbackyard, add an outdoor fireplace, fire
pit, add an outdoor kitchen area, addsome shade cells or whatever else it is.

(01:04:01):
We want to be that resource for you.
And that's the end goal here.
And we promise.
That there's going tobe a ton of information.
We'll try to go through it, youknow, as relatively quickly, but
also slow so people can understand.
But the intent of the show, thereason Mike and I are doing this
is because we just got a lot inour heads and we want to share it.
So we hope to see youhere every single week.
Thanks for listening.