A Kansas couple who wanted a tropical getaway without moving away from their family turned two acres of their Olathe backyard into a huge 100,000-gallon swimming lagoon.
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who → want → lagoon
Homeowners Melissa and Mike Morris spent nearly a year building their private outdoor retreat.
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Morris → spend → retreat
The lagoon stretches about 100 feet long and 50 feet wide on their ten-acre property.
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lagoon → stretch → property
It features six cascading waterfalls, tropical fish trained to respond to human voices, and thousands of pounds of imported granite rocks, including one giant boulder weighing 23,000 pounds.
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It → feature → pounds
In an interview with Kansas City Homes & Style magazine, Melissa Morris described how their suburban backyard had changed.
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backyard → describe → magazine
"I look out the window, and I get this fat, cheesy grin on my face," Morris told Kansas City Homes & Style.
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Morris → look → Homes
Do I actually live here?
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I → live → ?
Even when I'm slaving and sweating in it, I look around, and I smile, because I realize this is paradise.
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this → slave → it
Inspired by a trip to Tahiti
The project grew from the couple's wish to enjoy a coastal lifestyle while staying close to their family in Kansas.
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project → inspire → Kansas
Traditional swimming pools in the Midwest can face long-term damage from harsh winter weather.
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pools → face → weather
Repeated freezing and thawing can crack concrete and damage paving.
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freezing → crack → paving
After watching relatives deal with expensive repairs to a traditional pool, Morris wanted a natural swimming area that could better handle the local climate.
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that → watch → climate
The idea for the lagoon took shape during a holiday in Tahiti.
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idea → take → Tahiti
The couple stayed at a resort with a natural stone cove protected by a reef-like structure.
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couple → stay → structure
Warm water and tropical reef fish could move freely through the Tahitian cove, while larger ocean animals were kept out.
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animals → move → cove
Natural stepping stones around the water added to the unusual swimming experience.
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stones → add → experience
Morris returned to Olathe determined to create a similar ocean-like setting at home.
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Morris → return → home
She imagined a natural swimming pond with beach-style entrances instead of the usual walls and chlorinated water of a standard pool.
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She → imagine → pool
Hauling massive boulders from Colorado
The lagoon's main visual feature is its large stone structure.
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feature → haul → Colorado
It uses granite boulders brought from high-altitude areas of Colorado rather than locally available Kansas limestone.
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It → use → limestone
According to a feature published by Kansas City Homes & Style, Morris asked a friend to travel to Colorado and climb to heights of 14,000 feet to choose specific granite rocks.
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Morris → accord → rocks
She wanted stones with gray and white streaks and sparkling mineral patterns.
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She → want → streaks
To make sure construction workers did not accidentally install her favourite stones with their best sides facing down, Morris marked important rocks with red spray-painted dots.
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Morris → make → dots
The largest rock on the property arrived by chance when a delivery crew loaded an oversized 23,000-pound boulder onto its truck.
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crew → arrive → truck
The enormous stone needed an excavator to slide it off the vehicle.
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stone → need → vehicle
Once the crew stood the boulder upright, the couple noticed its unusual face-like shape.
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couple → stand → shape
They quickly named it "Jabba the Hutt," after the fictional Star Wars character.
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They → name → character
Creating a year-round tropical landscape
To make the lagoon feel like a real beach, the couple added two zero-entry shorelines.
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couple → create → shorelines
These gently slope into the water and are made from smooth, tumbled white marble rather than ordinary sand.
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These → slope → sand
This helps prevent loose grit from getting into the water filters.
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This → help → filters
The water ranges from a shallow five-foot shelf to six and a half feet in the central diving area.
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water → range → area
Water moves continuously through a filtration system designed by Aquascape.
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Water → move → Aquascape
The couple hired local company Good Earth Water Gardens to build the main lagoon and its large stone barriers.
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couple → hire → lagoon
The surrounding garden includes artificial palm trees made with real palm husks.
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garden → surround → husks
They give the area a tropical look while allowing it to withstand freezing Kansas winters.
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it → give → winters
The couple also added natural wood features, including a hollowed-out walnut log recovered from a river on Mike Morris's family property.
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couple → add → property
"Mike and I are both pretty ambitious and planned on doing it ourselves, but after almost finishing the waterfall pond by our barn, we realized this lagoon would probably take us two years to complete on our own and I don't have that much patience or time," Morris explained to Kansas City Homes & Style.
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Morris → plan → Homes
The couple also put in 12 to 14 hours a day working on the surrounding gardens, cabana structures, and outdoor seating areas.
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couple → put → gardens
Sharing the private lagoon
The finished backyard project, officially named "Morris Lagoon," has attracted attention from well beyond the local community.
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project → share → community
After videos of the 100,000-gallon lagoon spread across social media platforms, the couple began receiving requests from photographers who wanted to arrange private photo sessions on the property.
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who → spread → property
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
