Small Space Swimming: Lap Pools Reloaded

The last post I wrote about lap pools has been viewed 77 thousand times, because if there’s one thing the internet loves more than a beautiful picture of a swimming pool, it’s a beautiful picture of a long, thin swimming pool. So I though I’d create another one, full of even more enviable photos, since the last post was such a success, and since you’re stuck at your desk, or on the subway, or wherever, and you deserve a break, even if it’s only in your eyes and in your imagination.

The great thing about lap pools, if you are in the enviable position of actually being able to build one, is that they don’t take up your whole darned backyard. They’re like pools for grownups — not so great for Marco Polo, but perfect for exercise, and also for drinking while partially submerged, which is, in my mind, the true purpose of a pool.

Up top: At a California home spotted on Dwell, a lap pool forms a cool, blue oasis, contrasted against a garden full of desert plants.

A lap pool tucks into the side yard of an Austin home from Dwell.

This lap pool from Houzz, surrounded by hedges and greenery, feels like a luxe getaway.

This lap pool, at a luxurious Greek villa, makes up in views what it lacks in surface area.

This lap pool, a design of Australian firm Techne, is formed in a C shape, wrapping around — it’s almost too good to be true — a glassed-in living room with a sunken conversation pit. This is the perfect house.

This gorgeous pool, spotted on C Home, is in Napa valley, an appropriate place for something so perfect. Jutting off towards the horizon, surrounded by greenery, it’s almost like a small, private river.

Spotted on Houzz, a lap pool glistens invitingly in the backyard of an Atlanta home.

Spotted on The Selby, a surprisingly moody dark-bottom lap pool provides an almost sculptural element in a Sydney backyard. The abandoned pool noodles seem almost inappropriately playful.

This photo of a Rhode Island home from Dwell proves that a narrow pool can be just as much fun as its larger counterparts.

Thanks to the surrounding lawn, this lap pool, spotted on Zillow, takes on a distinctly luxe look — more reflecting pool than swimming pool.

This lap pool, from a swanky tropical villa spotted on Peony Lim, may be small — but it’s the definition of luxury.