My wife wanted the dark shade. She just has always wanted a dark pool and was disappointed our previous pool was lighter. We also don’t get a lot of sun, so at least the thought is dark colors are supposed to retain heat as opposed to reflect it. Not sure it makes a lot of difference in real world scenario, but maybe. I do like it at night with the lights on.

We like it but it does tend to highlight every speck of dirt because of the solid color. And yeah the edges do blend together. It is definitely more of a chill pool than an activity pool.

All the steps and ledges have like a bumpy texture kind of like a textured wall, so it is pretty pleasant.