Want a calmer, cleaner pool experience for your St. Petersburg home without giving up Gulf breezes, sky views, or sunset color? For Pinellas County homeowners, screen and glass pool enclosures can be the sweet spot; fewer bugs and leaves, more usable days, and that coveted indoor-outdoor vibe.
Below is a design-forward guide to covered-pool options that local homeowners frequently request from custom pool builders in St. Petersburg. This includes retractable openings, sightline tricks, lighting, and features that create an “outdoor feel” while protecting against outdoor elements. We’ll also share some industry insights from indoor-outdoor design experts (linked below) for creating the ultimate water retreat for every season.
Why Covered Pools Make Sense in Florida
Screened pool rooms (cages/lanai enclosures) allow you to enjoy fresh air while filtering insects, pollen, and falling leaves. Think of your covered-pool design as a recipe for longer lounge time and less maintenance, such as screened spaces for keeping “bugs at bay” and debris off your patios and furniture — exactly what you want around the water.
On the glass side, oversized sliders and moving glass walls can open wide on good-weather days and close during heat, storms, or heavy pollen, keeping your pool court comfortable and connected to the house. Architectural Digest frequently highlights homes where glass walls erase the boundary between indoors and out — an ideal complement to a modern poolscape.
Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of glass and screen enclosures for your custom, luxury pool.
Screen Enclosures: Breezy Comfort, Fewer Bugs, Less Debris
If you’re looking for year-round airflow, shade, and a “still outside” feeling, a screened enclosure may be the best fit for your inground pool. Benefits include:
- Bug-and-debris control: Screens act like a filter, reducing mosquitoes and airborne debris so the water stays clearer between cleanings.
- All-day usability: Shade and ventilation extend the hours for enjoying your pool deck — even in summer.
- Barrier integration: In Florida, pools must have compliant barriers for safety; a screen enclosure can often serve as the required barrier when doors, latches, heights, and openings meet statute requirements.
Pool design tip: Your custom pool builder can use dark enclosure frames that actually enhance views of the sky and area landscaping. This may involve keeping roof lines simple and grazing the water with warm LED lights for a resort feel after dark.
Glass Enclosures and Retractable Openings: Views, Light, and Climate Control
Dreaming of a climate-controlled water oasis? Glass pool enclosures protect against inclement weather while providing panoramic views, wind control, and all-season comfort — without losing that outdoor feel. Benefits include:
- Moving glass walls: Retractable systems create a true indoor-outdoor room when open, and a sunroom effect when closed. Align vertical dividers (mullions) with key pool edges so sightlines remain clean.
- Siting and sightlines: Your pool builder can use low-iron glass for clearer color while keeping headers low-profile. Your paving can run seamlessly from interior to pool deck to extend the visual field.
Design tip: Your pool builder can pair glass with ceiling fans and dehumidification (as needed) so condensation stays under control on humid days.
Hybrid Custom-Pool Designs: The Best of Both Worlds
Many Pinellas County backyards shine with a screened pool and decking, plus retractable glass at the house wall. If you’re looking to create an indoor-outdoor experience for your new dream home, your custom pool builder and home builder can work together to create the perfect hybrid pool design that integrates seamlessly with your home’s structure and landscaping.
Imagine an indoor-outdoor kitchen and a great room that opens wide to the lanai, while the screened cage keeps bugs and debris out of the pool water (and out of your home). This “air-through plus see-through” combo is a design favorite by industry experts for preserving views, airflow, and easy maintenance — especially valuable on urban St. Pete lots.
Sightline Tricks So a Covered Pool Still Feels Outdoors
Thanks to innovative 3D design techniques, custom pool builders can create a swimming pool that reflects your unique aspirations and lifestyle, including bringing the “outdoors inside” for year-round enjoyment.
Today, you can choose from a wide range of indoor-outdoor designs that work perfectly with your covered pool, such as:
- Edge discipline: Your pool builder can align benches, bubblers, and sheers along one edge so features read as a single, seamless edge.
- Dark frames, light floors: Dark cage framing recedes while light porcelain pavers amplify daylight and feel cooler underfoot.
- Landscape layering: Think low plantings inside the enclosure with taller palms/hedges just outside the enclosure frame lines to boost privacy. (Design editors at Architectural Digest recommend the same layering for calming indoor-outdoor rooms.)
Explore your options: Explore more edging and pool design-layering ideas in the WinWay Pools Gallery.
Lighting, Sound, and Privacy for Evening Magic
Energy-efficient LED lights offer endless possibilities to customize and elevate your pool area, ensuring every evening is unforgettable. Here are just a couple of ideas for illuminating your pool and enhancing your nighttime swimming experience.
- Layered LEDs: Illuminate steps and benches for safety, highlight waterfalls, fountains, and other water features, and add low-glare landscape accents beyond the enclosure to extend depth after dark.
- Soundscapes: A slim sheer descent or scuppers provide white noise that masks neighborhood sounds. This is especially welcome under a roof! Choose variable flow to better control the volume.
- Soft screening: Outdoor drapery or motorized shades temper late-day glare while keeping views open — an approach long used in high-end porch design.
Your Planning Checklist for Covered Pools
At WinWay Pools, our goal is to provide every client with a pool and a complete outdoor living environment. Our professional designers can work closely with you to create an indoor-outdoor oasis for your home.
Here’s a quick checklist our pool designers have put together to get you started:
- Pick your pool cover: This may include a full-screen cage, a glass enclosure, or a hybrid of both, such as sliders at the house and a screened pool court.
- Protect the view: You can choose darker frames that align with mullions and along the pool’s long edge, and layer plantings just outside the enclosure.
- Think easy maintenance: Screens reduce insects and debris; glass reduces wind-blown rain. Both cut down the day-to-day cleanup compared to fully open water.
- Light for night: Consider in-pool LEDs, feature grazing, and low-glare landscape lighting beyond the enclosure.
Find Indoor-Outdoor Pool Inspiration in St. Petersburg
At WinWay Pools, we understand that every family in St. Petersburg and across Pinellas County has different needs and preferences, so we offer a wide range of pool and spa designs. This includes unique, custom-designed enclosures to help you enjoy your inground pool all year round.
Browse ideas in the WinWay Pools Gallery and explore our services. Planning a new home or major renovation? WinWay Pools can coordinate with WinWay Homes so your enclosure, pool, hardscape and landscape feel integrated from the first sketch.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation. Our specialist will meet you at your house to go over design details, dimensions, and site specifics.
This article is general guidance, not engineering or code advice. Your designer/contractor will confirm pool design details for your property and HOA.
