Harrison Ford's '80s Pool Design Pioneered the Retro, Space-Saving Shape Homeowners are Coveting in 2026

In 2026, interior design is looking backwards to the sillhouettes of the '70s, '80s and '90s, with the aim of recapturing the quality and whimsy of design throughout this era. This summer, nostalgia is making its way to the poolside and Homes & Gardens is turning to archival photos of Harrison Ford's home from 1981 for inspiration.

The photoshoot features the actor in the pool at his former home in the Hollywood Hills, and it's a beautiful masterclass in pool design. Rather than existing as separate entities, the pool and hot tub are connected, creating an undulating shape. Glazed tiles and intricate stonework elevate the pool to feel timelessly elegant. In the background, evergreen trees create lush surroundings. Though the look is simple, it proves small decisions in pool design can be impactful.

To explore Harrison's look further, Homes & Gardens spoke with two pool design experts to get to the bottom of why it works, and the elements modern homeowners are incorporating into their own pool areas. We also curated an edit of retro pool furniture, to help you bring nostalgia to your outdoors this summer. Let's kick things off with a peek into Harrison's pool.

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Whether or not you completely change the shape of your pool, Harrison's '80s design is a reminder that the aesthetics of past eras are fantastic grounds for design inspiration. Stripes are one of the best ways to capture the aesthetic while tapping into modern trends.

Rafi Friedman, a pool design expert and president of Coastal Luxury pool design services, explains: 'There's a lot to like about the design of a hot tub directly adjoining a pool. It's easier to build and uses space efficiently, since you effectively only have to dig one big basin to fit both pools. It's also easy for swimmers to go back and forth between the two pools.'

However, he cautions that Harrison's design isn't right for everyone, and it's important to think carefully before choosing this shape to avoid a major pool planning mistake. Rafi advises: 'One issue with setups like this is that heat and water can pass back and forth between the two fairly easily, making it harder to control temperatures and chemical levels.'

In addition to the shape, the nostalgia of Harrison's design is a huge part of what makes it appealing. It taps into '80s trends without even trying. Brad Holley, pool design expert at UnDesign states: 'What we're seeing is a relic from a bygone era when pools were still incredibly simple. Ford's 1981, Hollywood Hills swimming pool is understated and highly functional, with minimal frills and a rugged sensibility. And that's funny because this is also a great way to describe Harrison Ford.'

The materials are another boon to the actor's pool deck. Brad explains: 'One thing that jumps out at me in these photos is the subtle raised wall along the back of the pool. Most pools that are designed and built these days often feature very distinct, raised feature walls, typically with some sort of fountain or waterfall feature coming out of them. But in Harrison Ford's Woodrow Wilson Drive swimming pool, the raised wall along the back was purely for decorative purposes. It's only about 6" tall (measured from the decking to the top of the wall), and there doesn't appear to be any sort of water feature protruding from it. It was just an added detail purely for aesthetics, and I happen to think it's lovely. In fact, it might be the only beauty-adding, non-utilitarian feature of the entire pool.'

He continues: 'And now I want to move on to my favorite aspect of this pool: the finishing materials. Granted, the entire photo collection from this shoot was only ever published in black and white, so we can't fully appreciate the richness of the colors here. But there is still plenty to appreciate, even in black and white. The coolest part of the material selections was easily the coping. This is the 10" - 14" banding that you always see around the outside of a pool. The coping is the material that gets placed on top of the pool beam to hide the imperfections of the concrete underneath. It's what you'd be sitting on if you wanted to sit outside of the pool but hang your legs in the water.'

'The reason the coping is so interesting to me is because it was way ahead of its time,' adds Brad. 'What you see here is 2" thick, hand-chiseled stone (either sandstone or limestone). The fact that this pool was shot in 1981 means that the pool had probably been built or re-finished for several years (sometime in the 70's). And this stone coping finish is a pool design feature that wouldn't catch on for another 15 - 20 years. At the time, almost everybody was still installing bullnose, terracotta bricks, or extending their concrete decking right out over the waterline in lieu of coping (referred to as "cantilevered concrete coping").'

The unfussy finishes of this pool are to its benefit. Brad explains: 'The other material selection we can see in these photos is a 3"x3" textured deco tile that lines everything at the waterline and above it. This is kind of interesting as well, because there have been a slew of pool tile options since the 70s. Everything from mosaics and patterns, to highly detailed deco tiles, and all of them coming in every color of the rainbow. But for this pool, somebody (maybe even Ford himself) chose instead to keep it understated. They chose a simple (probably deep blue) tile with a little bit of texture and movement, but not so much that it was trying to steal the show.'

Futhermore, Ford's nostalgic design would work as part of any home. Brad concludes: 'I think that this pool layout, and even the materials its adorned with could be incorporated perfectly into a Modern home's backyard space. Much of Modern design (both inside and out) struggles to strike a balance between the rugged and imperfect beauty of natural materials, while at the same time, showing all of the earmarks of a space that was distinctly designed by human beings who love straight, manicured lines and order. I could see this swimming pool fitting perfectly behind a contemporary home, especially one with a transitional appeal that is trying to strike that same aforementioned balance between nature and order.'

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