Last Updated: September 2026
A swimming pool installation involves far more than digging a hole, setting up the pool’s framework, and filling it with water. Modern pools include a wide variety of optional features that will be fun for you to decide which ones you need. With the guidance of your landscape design professional, you will want to consider these nine features for your Commack, NY, swimming pool.
Water Fountain
Whether it is centrally located within the pool or adjacent to it, a fountain feature paired with your swimming pool can be a delightful addition. It provides a sense of glamorous and classic style.
Waterfall
Placing a waterfall, or even a series of them, along the side of your swimming pool is another option. This choice of feature also offers superior luxury to your design. In addition to the visual spectacle, a waterfall provides a calming audible element.
Diving Board
If your pool has a deep end, it could also have a diving board. Much of the fun enjoyed with a pool comes with the initial jumping entrance. Many homeowners choose to have a retractable board for safety purposes.
Baja Step
For families with children or those who enjoy reclining in the shallow water, a Baja step provides a large expanse of a step for safe, slow entrance into the water.
RELATED: 5 SLEEK AND STYLISH SWIMMING POOL DESIGNS TO CONSIDER FOR YOUR MELVILLE, NY, HOME
Swim-up Bar
When much of your pool use involves entertaining guests in a party environment, a swim-up bar would suit your swimming pool design. Your guests will appreciate your respect for party-day decadence when drinks can be acquired without ever having to leave the water.
Game Accessories
If playing games as a family serves your lifestyle better than a bar, why not feature gaming accessories as a pool feature? Whether you add an easy-to-access hoop for basketball or a net for volleyball, keep the fun going all day with joyful pool accessories.
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Landscape Lighting
The lighting associated with your pool might not be an obvious feature to include when you’re in the early planning stages, but think about how wonderful it would to keep the fun going as the sun begins to set. The right lighting could offer a beautiful spectacle as it reflects the water in the pool. As part of your landscape lighting plan, you do want to make sure that the area is well lit, and you can include water-protected lights within the pool. You can even install adjustable lighting, so you’ll be able to modify the lighting used depending on the situation.
Infinity Design
The infinity pool has quickly gained trend status among popular pool features. The optical feeling of endlessness provides a cutting-edge aesthetic that is ideal for any homeowner who wants the pool to be as stylish as it is functional. For this design to work well, the landscape meeting the edge should be appropriate for the infinity design, whether it’s another body of water or the horizon.
Fire Features
The dichotomy of fire and water is an age-old pairing. For landscaping, this combination of opposites is powerful and affects many of the senses. Place a fire pit on your poolscape or a line of protected torches along the side of the swimming pool for a significantly effective landscape design feature.
How do you keep the pool area safe?
Every feature on this list assumes the pool is safe to be around first, and most of what follows is code, not preference.
New York requires a barrier around a residential pool that can hold more than 24 inches of water. The code sets the minimums: a barrier at least 48 inches high, gates that are self closing and self latching, and a latch at least 40 inches above grade on the pool side. Your local building department, town or village, enforces that, issues the permit and inspects the work, and some go further than the state minimum. A barrier with no handholds or footholds is far harder for a child to climb than a fence with horizontal rails.
A pool alarm isn’t optional either. New York requires one on pools installed, constructed or substantially modified after December 14, 2006, meeting ASTM F2208, and it has to detect entry anywhere on the surface. A wearable personal alarm doesn’t satisfy it. There’s an exemption where the pool has an automatic power safety cover meeting ASTM F1346. Door alarms on the doors leading out to the pool matter too, especially where a wall of the house forms part of the barrier.
On covers, the standard is the whole point. Only a cover meeting ASTM F1346 counts as a safety cover. A solar blanket or a floating winter cover is not a safety device, and a child can slip underneath one and be hidden from view.
Suction outlet covers aren’t something to get to later. New work uses anti entrapment covers, and those covers carry a service life with a date on them. On an older pool, have them checked, and if one is missing, cracked or out of date, keep everyone out of the water until it’s replaced. The pull at an unprotected outlet is strong enough to hold a swimmer under. If your pool has a single main drain, ask about a second outlet or a safety vacuum release system.
Lighting belongs on this list too, since seeing where everyone is after dark is a safety matter. All of it is licensed electrical work under Article 680, including GFCI protection and bonding.
None of it replaces supervision. Name a water watcher every time the pool is in use: one adult, no phone, and the job handed off on purpose when they need a break. Young children and weak swimmers need an adult within arm’s reach. Keep a reaching pole and a ring buoy at the pool, keep a phone on the deck, and get CPR certified. Swimming lessons for everyone in the house are worth more than most of what you can buy for the yard, but they lower the risk rather than removing it.
For a real-world example, take a look at Where Fire Meets Water, a recent project of ours in West Islip, NY.
