Some pools are beautiful. Some pools have a great story. And then there are rare installations that manage to be both, the kind that stop you mid-scroll and make you want to know everything about how they came to life. The May 2026 Pool of the month from Imagine Pools is exactly that.
Solid Structures of Virginia Beach, Virginia, earned the May 2026 Pool of the Month honor with a breathtaking Illusion 40 in Storm Grey, installed on a property overlooking the water. The project is as much a testament to the team’s collective creative vision as it is to their problem-solving ingenuity, and Solid Structures’ President/Owner Scott Prunty is the first to say so.
“The accolades go to the people who actually did the work,” Prunty said. “The pool installers, project managers, project coordinators in the office…everyone who came together to put it all in place.”
a vision years in the making
This installation didn’t happen overnight or even within a single year. The Solid Structures team had been in conversation with the homeowners about a pool for three or four years before the project finally moved forward.
When that moment arrived, the team scrapped their original design entirely and started fresh, working through pool size, orientation and layout until the vision came together. What made this project especially rewarding was the creative freedom the homeowners extended to them, trusting the Solid Structures team to make the calls on colors, patterns, layouts and pavers. The Storm Grey pool color was a deliberate and confident choice, and the results speak for themselves.
a nighttime showstopper
The Illusion 40‘s clean lines and sophisticated colorway set the tone, but it’s the layers of detail the team incorporated surrounding the pool that elevate this installation to something truly memorable. Four color-changing laminars arc across the water, lights illuminate The Mystique spillover spa and a motorized pergola fitted with its own color-changing lighting anchors the space.
Then there are the fire bowls, all four of them, and they deserve their own moment.
Originally installed in gray, the homeowner’s wife made clear they weren’t to her liking. The team sent the bowls out for powder coating, and at the shop she spotted lipstick red. That was the decision. The result? A bold, vibrant, and decidedly unexpected layer of style turned out to be one of the most striking elements of the entire installation.
“Definitely not intended, but it turned out well,” he said.
At night, with laminars arcing, fire bowls blazing and the pergola glowing against the backdrop of the Bay, the space is nothing short of spectacular.
the details that define the space
Surrounding the pool, the team selected Belgard pavers in a deliberate mix of shapes, sizes and patterns. Smaller pavers in a herringbone layout define walkways and transitional areas, while larger format pavers open up gathering spaces. The layered approach creates visual rhythm across the backyard rather than one flat, uniform surface.
The pool’s square edge coping and cap carry cleanly around the perimeter, while The Mystique Spa features its own distinctive stone coping detail. The property slopes from approximately two feet of elevation at the shallow end to roughly four feet at the far edge, a grade that required careful backfilling and planning to integrate the pool seamlessly with the home. The Illusion 40 is fully automated, with all water features and fire features tied into a single control system.
how do you deliver a pool with no road access?
Here is where this installation becomes genuinely one-of-a-kind.
The home sits on the water with a winding driveway, an existing brick porch that couldn’t be disturbed and a house too tall and too deep for a reasonably priced crane to clear. Bringing the pool around the house or over it simply wasn’t a viable option. The Solid Structures team recognized the challenge upfront and came up with a solution nobody on the street had ever seen before.
They took the pool by water.
The team transported the pool to a boat ramp three houses down, loaded it into the shallow bay with a telehandler and walked it along the waterfront…ropes in hand, neighbors watching…navigating around docks until they could bring it up to the property. Once in position, the telehandler came around and lifted it into the backyard.
“A bunch of guys with ropes walking around all the neighbors’ docks,” Prunty said. “There was a decent crowd (on hand to observe).”
The whole operation, from trailer to backyard, took roughly an hour.
“There’s always a way,” Prunty said. “We’ve floated a pool in before.”
built for exactly this
Founded in 2008, Solid Structures operates with a team of approximately 45 people who handle nearly every phase of construction in-house, from pool installation and project management to on-site coordination. That depth of capability is what allows the team to tackle challenges like a waterborne pool delivery and still deliver a finished product that earns national recognition.
The company was named the 2025 Imagine Pools Dealer of the Year, a distinction that reflects both their craftsmanship and the standard they hold themselves to on every job, no matter how unconventional the path to completion.
Interested in an Imagine Pools fiberglass pool for your backyard? Find an authorized dealer near you at imaginepools.com.
