Quick Summary
Selah Pools built a complete outdoor environment for the Steele family in Fort Worth featuring a 22,292-gallon pool with rock grotto, waterfall, fire feature, tanning ledge bubblers, Oklahoma flagstone coping, Pebble Aqua Blue plaster, and volleyball sleeves.
Key Takeaways
- The Steele family returned to Selah for a patio extension after their pool build — a repeat client by choice, not contract.
- Features include a rock grotto with waterfall and seating bench, tanning ledge with two bubblers, fire feature, 15-foot seating wall, and volleyball sleeves.
- Oklahoma flagstone clads both pool coping and a 79-linear-foot retaining wall; Pebble Aqua Blue plaster lines the pool below the waterline.
- A neighbor began their pool three months earlier with another builder — the Steele project finished first, reflecting Selah's coordination.
- "My neighbor started his pool 3 months before Selah started and they still are nowhere close to being finished."
Some clients return. That tells you everything. When Mike Steele wanted a patio extension added to the Fort Worth property where Selah had already built his pool, the call was easy — because the first experience had been. Fort Worth's sprawling residential lots invite outdoor spaces that work as hard as the families who live in them: spaces made for summer evenings, for neighborhood gatherings, for children who disappear into the water and resurface laughing. A rock grotto anchors the composition, creating a sheltered alcove within a pool that spans nearly twenty-two thousand gallons. The tanning ledge pulls afternoon sun. A fire feature extends the season well past sunset.
“Lori, Rudy, John, Caleb, and James ensured my patio extension was done professionally and quickly. Just like when they built our pool, we couldnt be any happier.”
Pebble Finish & Flagstone
Oklahoma flagstone sets the material tone — coping and a 79-linear-foot retaining wall laid in the same stone, so the pool reads as part of the landscape rather than imposed on it. Below the waterline, Pebble Aqua Blue plaster gives the water a depth of color that shifts with the hour. The rock grotto — six feet wide, two and a half feet tall at the opening — houses a waterfall and a recessed bench at eighteen inches deep, lit from within by LED lighting.
Pump & Bubbler
On the deck, nearly 1,277 square feet of pavers create the gathering surface. Two bubblers animate the tanning ledge. Volleyball sleeves and a 15-foot seating wall invite the whole neighborhood in.
Project Highlights
The Steele family returned to Selah for a patio extension after their pool build — a repeat client by choice, not contract.
Features include a rock grotto with waterfall and seating bench, tanning ledge with two bubblers, fire feature, 15-foot seating wall, and volleyball sleeves.
Oklahoma flagstone clads both pool coping and a 79-linear-foot retaining wall; Pebble Aqua Blue plaster lines the pool below the waterline.
A neighbor began their pool three months earlier with another builder — the Steele project finished first, reflecting Selah's coordination.
"My neighbor started his pool 3 months before Selah started and they still are nowhere close to being finished."
What Our Customers Say
4.8 stars from 154+ reviews
“James was one of the first people we met when my husband and I were looking at adding a pool.”
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a rock grotto more than a visual feature?
A rock grotto changes how people move through a pool — it creates a destination within the water, not just a surface to swim across. In the Steele residence, the grotto is six feet wide with a waterfall at the opening and a recessed bench inside at eighteen inches deep, lit by LED lighting. The result is a sheltered alcove that feels removed from the deck even when the rest of the family is gathered around the fire feature. For families with children, grottos become legendary. For adults, they offer a quiet moment inside an otherwise social space.
Why does Selah use Oklahoma flagstone for coping and walls?
Oklahoma flagstone is a sedimentary stone quarried regionally, arriving with natural color variation — warm tans, soft grays, occasional rust tones — that synthetic materials can imitate but never quite match. It is also dense and dimensionally stable, which matters when serving as pool coping in a climate that sees both summer heat and winter cold. At the Steele residence, Oklahoma flagstone covers the pool coping and nearly 79 linear feet of retaining wall, creating a continuous material language across the outdoor living space. When the same stone appears at eye level and underfoot, the space reads as designed rather than assembled.
What should Fort Worth homeowners know about adding a fire feature near a pool?
Fort Worth's climate makes outdoor fire features genuinely useful for most of the year — not just a visual gesture. Evenings cool quickly from October through April, and a well-placed fire feature extends comfortable outdoor use into months that would otherwise push families inside. Placement relative to the pool, prevailing wind direction, and proximity to the deck surface all factor into positioning. At the Steele residence, the fire feature anchors the outdoor living space as a gathering point separate from the water — giving the entertainment area a second focal moment beyond the grotto.
How does Selah manage project timelines compared to other builders?
Selah's project coordination runs through a named team — sales, construction management, and field supervision — who communicate with each other and with clients throughout the build. That structure prevents the handoff gaps that slow most pool construction: when excavation finishes, plumbing is already scheduled. Mike Steele noted it plainly: a neighbor began their pool three months before Selah broke ground on the Steele project — and Selah finished first. That outcome reflects a build management discipline refined over hundreds of projects across DFW, and one of the reasons clients return when ready to extend their outdoor living space.
Can a tanning ledge and a grotto coexist in one pool design?
They not only coexist — they serve completely different uses within the same body of water, which is precisely the point. A tanning ledge is shallow by design, built for lounging in the sun with minimal immersion. The Steele tanning ledge includes two bubblers that animate the surface with gentle movement. A grotto, by contrast, is a fully enclosed alcove at swimming depth with its own acoustic and lighting environment. Designing both into a single pool requires careful attention to circulation and volume distribution. At 22,292 gallons, the Steele pool carries both gracefully, each feature occupying its own zone.
Your Outdoor Sanctuary Starts with a Call
Tell us what you imagine for your outdoor living space. We'll show you what's possible.
(817) 618-5731See more of our pool projects in Fort Worth
