#pebblelife: Dane from Mermaid Pool Interiors talks the perfect pool finish
When we build a pool, we are obsessed with getting every little detail right, even down to the very last pebble. That’s why we use Dane and his crew at Mermaid Pool Interiors. These guys specialize in doing Beadcrete swimming pool interiors, and they’re just as pumped about pebble perfection as we are. We sat down with co-owner Dane, to help you get a better idea of just what’s involved with a perfect pool finish.
‘It’s a pretty satisfying job,’ says Dane, who owns and runs Mermaid Pool Interiors with his business partner Dean. ‘We really enjoy it because we are one of the finishing trades. After we’ve installed the Beadcrete, we get to put the hose in and watch the pool transform from being basically this hole in the ground to this awesome feature.’
If you haven’t checked out our blog on Beadcrete, click here for a full run down on this beautiful product. In a nutshell, though, it’s versatile, affordable, comfortable, and looks absolutely stunning – producing a gorgeous sparkling effect in the water.
‘There are two different ranges of Beadcrete,’ Dane says. ‘The Island range is 60% glass and 40% pebble. The Crystal range is 100% glass – it’s so smooth underfoot. The glass in the product reflects the light, so clients love the shimmering effect.’
Mermaid Pool Interiors comes into things right at the end of your build. By the time Dane and his crew arrive on site, you’ve dreamed up your perfect water colour, picked your range, had the excavation completed, and the steel fixing all done. The Beadcrete arrives in big bags just like concrete.
‘Basically we carry those into the pool,’ Dane says. ‘We use a concrete mixer and apply all the Beadcrete by hand. It’s a job that requires a lot of experience and concentration. You do it by eye and feel, and you’ve got to get it right. At the end we do a final acid clean of the Beadcrete and leave the hose running to fill the pool up. That’s our job done.’
The whole exercise takes around a day to complete in summer, when the sun helps with the drying, and a day and a half in winter. Actually, when it comes to what can go wrong finishing your pool the weather is a big threat, Dane says.
‘We are a massively weather-dependent operation,’ Dane says. ‘Hot days, cold days, the wind, the works. The weather can really stuff our schedule around so that’s one thing we want clients to be aware of.’
Since they started up eight and a half years ago, Mermaid Pool Interiors have grown through word of mouth alone. They don’t have a website, and only joined Instagram recently to ‘keep up with the times’. We reckon they’re doing a pretty great job of nailing those visuals – loving the #pebblelife hashtag too!
‘Cheers,’ Dane says. ‘It’s good to get to show off the product and colours. It’s nice to show people what they can have and the different schemes and all that. One trend at the moment we’re noticing is people want to go white – it’s nice and simple. It doesn’t date, it’s timeless, and you can do heaps with the surrounds.’
When we spoke with Dane about whether or not Mermaid Pool Interiors were interested in getting on board to donate their time and services to our Wanna Win a Pool competition, we were so stoked with their response. In a mammoth act of generosity, Mermaid Pool Interiors have put their hand up to take care of the finish for the lucky winner of the pool.
‘It’s an awesome thing, even if we can help a little bit,’ Dane says. ‘Spending time to help build a pool, and help you guys raise money for such an important cause. We just wanna say well done to you and Matt for what you’re doing. It’s incredible, what you’ve done already. We’re really looking forward to meeting the winner of the pool.’
To learn more about Wanna Win a Pool click here.
