Modern living: Liquid assets

 Rome’s famous Trevi fountain welcomes 10.5 million visitors a year. What is it about water spraying out of a decorative source that gets people hot and bothered? 

Lisa Aiken, the interior designer behind Terra Firma Design, chalks it up to the soothing sound and trance-like effect of watching moving water. In the early aughts, when she ran a garden store in Bloor West village, shoppers often stopped by simply to take in the aural pleasure.  

“I had all the fountains running,” says Aiken. “And I had a lot of them. It allowed people to hear what they sound like.” 

Getting the gurgling sound right is essential, adds Aiken, whose firm specializes in outdoor spaces. You want it pleasurable, not noisy. “The first fountain I ever got was massive, before I even owned a store,” she says. “I put the water in and turned it on. It was like a hose hitting the ground. It was awful.” 

Layering rocks inside the fountain to dampen the sound did the trick, and Aiken was hooked.  

These days, linear styles are her thing. “I like a trough-like fountain because it’s more of a modern look,” she says. “It can be built into a raised surface, so you don’t see any plugs or tubing and you can adjust the height of your spouts to control the water and flow.” 

Chris Marchese, general manager of Marquis Gardens, supplies water features, accessories and statuary to homeowners in Toronto and the GTA. These include features like waterfall spillways that can tart up a swimming pool, or standalone items like bronze and stainless-steel bowls that glisten from a continuous stream of recirculated water pouring over them. They’re great in gardens as eye candy, Marchese says. 

Ditto fire-and-water elements. Watching the opposite elements attract in a vessel along the perimeter of a pool “where 99 percent of them are installed,” says Marchese, is hypnotic. It transforms an ordinary landscape into a showstopper, but you’ll need natural gas or propane to feed the units, and a contractor for installation. 

Marchese’s fountains include a range of styles, from modern bowls and balls to more squared-off vessels and wall-mounted versions. The massive three- or four-tiered “estate-style fountains,” as they’re called on Marquisgardens.ca, command attention in the centre of a circular driveway. 

“It’s the thing everybody talks about in an outdoor setting,” says Marchese of water features in general. “They are the focal point.” 

“Even when people install rectangular, minimalistic pools, they implement a water feature such as frothy jets,” says Marchese. Breaking up that patch of pool with the gentle sound of water adds drama and interest. Come the end of summer when the pool needs to be winterized the pumps can be removed, says Marchese. “It’s a simple process.” In terms of installation, now is the time to start planning with an eye to booking for next spring.  

The big trend, however, is natural swimming ponds. “They have been hugely popular in the last two to three years,” says Marchese. Also called biological swimming pools, recreational ponds or swim ponds, the cool thing about them is that you can literally swim with the fishes. 

“We’re building large koi ponds that are being turned into pools,” says Marchese, who uses products from Aquascape, a manufacturer of water gardens in Canada. In the winter, the fish go into a dormancy mode. “You don’t have to feed them,” he says, though he recommends an aeration unit, or a bubbler, to keep oxygenating the water.     

People are attracted to the ponds whether they have giant goldfish in them or not because of the natural filtration that occurs in them. “There is no salt or chlorine, so if feels like you’re swimming in a natural body of water, like a lake,” says Marchese.  The flora in them — plants such as irises or any type of rush, like a variegated cattail, or fresh water mint — acts as a natural cleaner.  

For safety reasons, parents with small kids might prefer a low-water feature. Josh Salmon, the owner of Planter Decor, transformed the gardens of one family’s mid-century-style Hamilton house into an outdoor oasis, complete with rocks and a stream. 

“They were initially nervous about adding a water feature because they have young kids, but it’s physically impossible to get into,” says Salmon. 

“They’re on a beautiful ravine so it made sense,” he says of the property that slopes up. Salmon’s design features sublime sections of water meandering over river rocks as well as generous plant life in staggered heights. In one part, a waterfall cascading over large rocks creates the ultimate curb appeal.  

“It’s exceptionally low maintenance because the water levels automatically adjust. It’s connected to the sprinkler,” says Salmon. “Anytime it gets low, it turns on.” The homeowners only need to add an algaecide every couple of weeks. 

Fountains are another Salmon specialty. With these features, his advice is to pay attention to scale. “You don’t want something to overwhelm your space or to underwhelm it.” Location is another factor. If it’s too windy the water will blow away; too sunny, and it evaporates. Partial shade is best. And don’t plop it just anywhere. Even a big-box-store fountain can look great if it’s gracefully integrated into a garden with hedges and layered plantings.  

Cold plunge tubs — those icy baths you sit in for the purported health benefits — are yet another way to get into the aquatic game. They’ve been making waves on the internet: even members of the boldface set, like Brooke Shields, Kylie Jenner and Carey Price, are championing their benefits. Apparently, stints in a freezing cold tub help with chronic pain, anxiety and sleep, and are a mood booster.  

Eric Chalifoux, the co-founder of Montreal-based Polar Immersion, and his business partner started selling the tubs after trying them out for themselves. As health and wellness fans, the pair had heard about the cold-plunge trend on a podcast.  

“We tried it and it changed our lives,” says Chalifoux, who discovered it helped with stress and muscle recovery.  

Since the portable ones on the market were expensive (there are also versions that are plumbed right into a deck), the partners designed a more affordable tub that starts at $179. 

“Install takes two minutes, and it’s comfortable enough for a 6-foot-seven-tall person, up to 300 pounds,” says Chalifoux. 

The duration of shivering is entirely up to you: “You want to listen to your body. Sit inside for the length of time that feels right for you,” says Chalifoux, who notes, “some people do it at night.” Or the ultimate start to the day, a morning plunge. “It’s a next-level cold shower,” he says. It may not have the aesthetic charm of an urban waterfall, but as Chalifoux puts it, “It’s like eight coffees at once.”