Mick Hilleary, founder and lead designer at Total Habitat, was recently featured in an article about natural pools in Business Traveler magazine! One of the natural pools we helped design and build in Napa Valley, California was also pictured in the article. See more photos of that project and more on this page of our website!

Our Designer Sophia was recently featured on the Paloola podcast episode exploring the benefits of swimming in nature. Sophia goes into the design and building process of our natural swimming pools as well as a basic review of how we maintain water clarity using built-in biological filters. She discusses the joy of making a swimming pool that looks as if it was always meant to be there, and that brings joy year-round to any nature lover.

We encourage you to listen to this podcast as the rest of the featured guests also share their stories of the joy and pleasure they experience from swimming in natural bodies of water.


Paloola is a monthly podcast written and hosted by Paula de la Cruz. It explores topics in art, design, health and technology inspired by botany and nature.

Find this episode of Paloola and more everywhere you listen to your podcasts

We are so excited to have one of our favorite projects featured in DesignKC Magazine, which showcases the best in Kansas City architecture and outdoor living! We designed and built this contemporary Natural Swimming Pool in 2019. Visit our Projects page for more info about this natural pool. For more articles and media mentions of Total Habitat, see our In the News page.

Though the writer didn't quite get everything right, including the price per square foot for natural pools (which in our experience is typically more like $20 - $80 per square foot, though it varies widely as explained in more depth on our Pricing page here), it is still nice to see Natural Swimming Pools getting some much deserved media attention! In fact, the natural pool shown at the top of the article was actually built by Total Habitat for Heather and Mike Dooley at their home in Napa, California. The Wall Street Journal article, Natural Pool Owners Are Kissing Chlorine And Other Chemicals Goodbye, also features a quote from Mick Hilleary, founder of Total Habitat, as well as from Meredith Stallcup (also of Total Habitat). Check out the full article here.