Discover different ways to incorporate a water feature into your outdoor living space, regardless of the size of your yard. Feeling extra adventurous? Swimming pools with waterfalls or a water features are a popular way to integrate two types of water features into one space. Some hot tubs and spas are even custom built to look like small pools or ponds. You can also add water features to the spa, like waterfalls. Not only that, in hot climates or on hot days, a fountain fills the air with moisture, bringing much-needed relief to your family and the nearby plants and landscaping. Fountains can come or be built in all kinds of styles, materials, and sizes—limited only by your DIY skills, imagination, and budget. Before getting started, understand that a backyard waterfall will most likely consist of two or more pools or bodies of water at varying heights. The upper pool is the smallest—big enough to get the water revved-up into a sort of bustling flow. Natural or man-made rocks and boulders are often incorporated into home-based waterfalls. Also, you can orchestrate whatever course you want the waterfall to take—a direct drop (freefall), interweaving channels, or one that breaks into a series of small holding pools or stair steps. Wells as a decorative landscape element probably enjoyed their heyday during the post-World War II era. Still, some people like their old-fashioned appeal and wells complement some periods of architecture and landscape design, like Tudor or Early American home styles.
