Fountains of Style

The lavish pool, complete with swim-up bar, borders the patio of a master bedroom retreat. It’s a serene space, great for a morning cup of coffee or an evening view of the valley. Inside, a projector flashing an old film casts its imagery onto a wall of water.

This is what you might find in a custom home built by developer Blue Heron. The heads of the company will tell you water is at the core of every home it builds. It starts with a pool and then becomes so much more.

“Mixing inside and outside elements is a huge component of all our custom homes in general. … Water features are a huge part of what we do,” said Tyler Jones, a Blue Heron principal.

Jones grew up in Las Vegas, and he’s well aware of the city’s water situation. Although pools and spas are standard in Blue Heron homes, the builder has maintained a strong green building record, even with elements such as subterranean water features and reflection ponds strategically placed near a wall to further highlight its design importance. One of Blue Heron’s environmental tricks, among many others, is to work the cool of the pool water into the home’s ventilation strategy.

“Our architectural style is called desert modern, and to me it’s important to do what’s appropriate for the desert, but it can get bland to have it all be about desert landscape. … When it comes to pool and water elements, we want it to feel kind of like an oasis,” Jones saidd.

Jones, and his partner, Tommy Isola, are two of many designers and developers constantly pushing the envelope on water features these days. Today, retailers are offering plug-in water walls of their own and designers are thinking beyond the mere bubbly fountains of yesterday to make water a part of the homeowner’s indoor and outdoor home experience.

Jill Abelman, owner of local design firm Inside Style Home, is working on a project where a homeowner requested a water feature in each room. Abelman is considering putting a fountain down a central hallway as a focal point. But bedrooms are a little trickier, she said.

“Design is like a jigsaw puzzle. You want to see where the furniture will go, the shelving and then what’s left for the accessories. That’s where the water features will go,” she said.

Abelman says the trend in water features is to use materials that are natural, such as river rock or slate. They require little to no maintenance, but are beautiful and timeless, the design pro said.

“I love to give clients an indoor water feature,” she added. “Most of us come from humid climates in the world. It brings moisture and also provides a sense of serenity.”

If an indoor fountain or water wall isn’t wanted, many home designers still like to keep outdoor features visible from the inside, Abelman added.

Dann Foley, a Palm Springs, Calif.-based interior designer, likes using water walls in bathrooms, particularly where a wall separates the shower/tub area and vanity. Sometimes, he will put the shower head in the middle of the water wall, on the shower side.

“This way you can use water as a part of the master suite. When you walk into that bathroom with the glass and the wall done in water, it can be very relaxing,” he said. “The trend is coming away from these free-standing preconceived fixtures that are fountains and instead creating something much more custom and creative in keeping with the design of the house.”

Water features can also work in community settings. Many major cities have turned to fountains as community gathering centers, such as Buckingham Fountain in Chicago or the Magic Fountains in Barcelona, Spain.

Tina Wichmann, a partner with BunnyFish Studio, a downtown Las Vegas design studio, said her firm works with water features in the urban context. Some can be “a powerful community connection tool,” she said.

Wichmann’s team helped to create a 14-foot-tall fully functioning fire hydrant at downtown’s the Hydrant Club, a dog boarding facility. The hydrant can be controlled to bring misting water or other types of spraying activity.

“It provides families and individuals with a neighborhood destination to have fun, rest, and connect as a community,” she added.

Maintenance, quality realities

Although a creative mind can do wonders with home or community water features, maintenance can bring an unwanted burden to unsuspecting owners.

Mat Baroudi, owner of the English Gardner, a Las Vegas landscaping firm, has seen his share of failed pumps in water features, and says this is the primary reason some of these experiences can be a bust.

With some larger fountains, he has used an external pool pump to replace the original.

“They are rated for years and they can stand the weather. The ones that go in the water themselves don’t seem to last very long,” he added.

Even Foley steers clients away from some of today’s popular small plug-in wall fountains, citing poor pump quality as a prime concern.

“If you don’t have the amount of money to do it the way you want it today, some things are worth waiting for,” he said.

“Subtlety is key; quality is paramount. A (nonfunctioning) water feature can also be very dated looking if you’re trying to sell the home 10 to 15 years later.”

Baroudi also cautions when it comes to koi ponds or large fountains in the yard, which can see their share of leaves from area shrubs and trees. But koi ponds, in particular, require considerable maintenance and oversight. They are prone to algae buildup if chemicals and filters are not monitored regularly.

“You have to be careful. It can be a pain in the behind just to hear the sound of water trickling,” he said.