Story by Lee Rennick
Photos by Erin Kosko and Lee Rennick
Putting a pool in your backyard transforms it into a private resort-like oasis, while providing health, lifestyle and property value benefits. On unrelenting hot summer days in the South, it can feel like a lifesaver by giving everyone a place to keep cool while still enjoying the great outdoors.
It has long been known that swimming is a high-quality total-body cardiovascular workout that is also gentle on the joints, but laps can also lower anxiety and stress.
Having a pool can bring people together, and a well-designed and well-kept pool can add value to any home. With today’s technology, they are less work than imagined.
The Smith, Burt and Kirby families have all added a pool to their homes, and all of them have stories to tell about how their Kevin Sparks Signature Pool has added to the quality of their lives and the beauty of their environments.
The Smith Pool is a Family Fun Zone
On the far side of their pool, the Smiths set off a cavalcade of fireworks on the Fourth of July enjoyed by friends and family. The adults relaxed on the balcony as the kids played volleyball in the pool below.
“This is the second house where we have put in a pool,” explained Lindsey Smith, owner of Summit Insulation. “And the second one we have done using Kevin Sparks Signature Pools.”
The first pool Lindsey and Arron Smith built was for a different house. They put it in in 2020, when COVID hit, to void the feeling of being trapped at home all of the time.
“I always said I wouldn’t put a pool in because of all the maintenance, but I have been really glad we did,” she noted. “I wouldn’t build again without one. These days, it turns out, they aren’t that much maintenance.”
What they love most about the pool is it gives their kids – Garron, Corbin and Lyla – a place to play and burn off their excess energy. Because of the pool, the Smith house has become the house that all of their kids’ friends come to hang out, which Lindsey loves. She can keep an eye on everyone.
“We’re the ‘fun house.’”
Admitting that she does not get into it much, having only plunged a hand full of times in two years, it is used every day by her kids, their friends and Aaron’s parents in season. The season being from March until November as it is heated so well with a gas heater.
Because they loved the pool in their last house, they had the same style put into their new house in 2024. Lindsey knew she wanted very straight clear lines, really clean with pavers all around it.
“To be honest, I found something I liked on Pinterest and mimicked that,” she chuckled. “I didn’t change the color or anything because I liked it so much. Except when we had the other pool, Lyla was a year old, so we had the sun shelf in it. It is a way of having only 10 inches of water. She learned to not be afraid of the water in that pool, to go under and hold her breath, and I could sit there with her and not worry about it so much. This one we left off the sun shelf because she is a really good swimmer now. In this one we wanted more room for pool volleyball. And for it to be deeper. This one is eight feet in the deep end. It goes from three to eight.”
Always in use during the season, the kids have friends visiting all the time playing basketball and volleyball, the boys especially. The last two years Lyla has chosen to have her birthday party in the pool house with her friends.
“There’s not tons of relaxing going on down there on floats because they are throwing the Nerf ball, volleyball or a basketball,” Lindsey shared. “It’s definitely a kid’s zone.”
The only relaxing space is the hot tub that they use the most during the fall and winter months.
“The kids were in it on New Year’s Eve,” she added. “That is how they rang in the New Year.”
Pool Has Dual Role at the Burt Home
Like the Smiths, Natalie and Micheal Burt built their pool with their children -- Emmaline Rose, Elias and Ella Grace -- in mind. But they also wanted a place where they could unwind and entertain.
“We travel a lot,” explained Natalie. “We are very busy, so we wanted our home to feel like a resort. Someplace where you want to spend time in your backyard. We wanted it to feel like a get away, but also like home.”
The Burts are the owners of The Greatness Factory in Nashville, and Michael is an international speaker and bestselling author. Natalie is also a powerhouse. She is an author, business leader and has collaborated with her husband on projects such as the "Living with a Monster" workshop and podcast. It is based on a book she wrote about how to thrive in a marital partnership when your spouse is highly driven. But even the driven need time to dial it down and recharge.
“Plus, the littles will get up at 6:30 a.m. and want to ride the water slide,” Natalie laughed. “I’ll tell them ‘Mama needs some coffee first.’ They just love the pool. They ride that slide over and over again.”
Floor to ceiling doors open from the kitchen and dining area onto the patio and pool area. Not only does it provide indoor/outdoor living, but it allows Natalie to see them in the pool or on the built-in trampoline from her perch in the kitchen where she enjoys her coffee.
“There was nothing in the backyard when we started,” Natalie said. “Sparks put it all in for us in 2016. A contractor who works with him added the pool house. Then in 2022, we came back and added the slide. And the waterfall, we just love it. At that time, we also extended the pool house to have some covered seating and the fireplace. It just got so hot out there. Our main goal for all of it was to make it look like it has always been there.”
Lauren Womick, Kevin Spark’s daughter, who is President of the company, did a great job bringing in big stones in to match the stonework on the house.
“We do have special clients over, but mainly we use the pool space for family gatherings, and watching football games, especially in the Fall with the fireplace,” she continued. “I try to do pizza nights on Fridays with the kids and let them swim. We use it all the time.”
Having designed her own home, Natalie enjoyed working with the Sparks team as they were pulling together the look for the space.
“They really spent some time on ‘what do you want’ and ‘how are you going to use this?’ Then they come back with 3-D drawings of what it could look like,” she shared. “I sent them pictures of what I had in mind, but then Lauren would say, ‘well, what if we do this to work with what you have going on back there?’ So, there is a lot of curation of what you are looking for when you work with them.”
The day they finished the pool, the Burts had a party with their VIP clients. It was tense for Natalie who coordinates all of their company’s events.
“As the clients were coming in one direction, they were finishing laying the sod in another,” she added. “I was in a panic. In the end it all came together and looked beautiful.”
Kirbys Impressed with Pool Replacement
“We had an existing pool with a pool deck and everything and it had to be replaced,” noted Chuck Kirby, a retired pilot living in Murfreesboro. “It was 30 years old, but we were extremely nervous about ripping all of that out. Of having heavy dump trucks coming down the driveway. And maybe having something crack in our home.”
“It was a big endeavor,” added his wife, Sherry. “It was hard to look out and see your whole backyard being dug up.”
After researching several different pool installation companies, Kevin Sparks Signature Pool was who the Kirbys chose because they do everything in house.
“Once you are on the schedule, everything is scheduled in,” Chuck explained. “They don’t have to go out and get sub-contractors. You do not have to worry about someone not having a skill because a contractor hired a sub-contractor to come in. Then you have to wait on them. Or you have to wait on different equipment to come in. Sparks Pools comes in and does it all. But most of all, they are respectful of your property. It is just nice when somebody respects your property.”
“And they pick up after themselves,” said Shery. “They don’t leave a big mess like some contractors do.”
“Then, at the end of it, they want to you understand your pool, too, so they offer a ‘Pool School’,” Chuck shared.
One of the last steps in the Sparks Pool process of pool building is to equip their clients with everything they need to know to take care of their new investment. At Pool School, an online program, they go over all the necessary details a client needs to know to manage their pool.
“I thought I understood pools because I had one before, but after going through Pool School I realized I didn’t,” Chuck said with a laugh. “It was enlightening for me.”
Spark Pools also stand by their work. About two years after installation, the lights in the Kirby pool failed. Expensive, Chuck was worried they were no longer under warranty. He had looked up the warranty on the light vendor’s website and it was for only two years. He figured he was going to have to pay for their replacement.
“Once I called them, they explained that they were the local installer for the vendor and that their warranty covered three years,” exclaimed Chuck. “They came out and replaced them. Then I had another piece fail, and it was still under warranty, too. They replaced it no questions asked. They went the extra mile.”
“They came and did it right away,” noted Sherry.
Sherry was most impressed by Tim Denton, the designer from Sparks Pools. He came to their house several times to go through everything with them to make sure they were getting exactly what they wanted. He and Sherry came up with the idea of the waterfall.
Chuck was most impressed by Ryan and Justin. They worked with the big excavator that had to be brought in to dig out the old pool and additional rock so they would be able to switch the location of the deep end. Justin was very careful to not do any damage while working in tight quarters.
“I mean, if they had swung that thing the wrong way, they could have hit the house, the pool house or the wall,” noted Chuck. “They took the time to do it right.”
As the pool was about to be completed, the Kirbys had a special request that Sparks Pools was happy to help them with.
“My daughter’s German Shepard used to love the pool,” Chuck shared. “She loved to get up on a float and be right next to you. She was a fixture in that pool all season, every year. But she passed away. My daughter brought us her ashes. I was able to spread the dog’s ashes under the pool so she will always be a part of it. Always be with us.