Have you considered doing the beach area in flagstone like your coping? We're currently building a pool too, and the slanted beach/entry is paved with flagstones (or should be by the end of today) and there's another shallow "beach" area (for lounge chairs so that you don't have to sit on a slant) underneath the spa waterfall that is also going to be done in flagstone.
I haven't figured out how to post pictures here yet, but I have a couple of pictures of pools with this exact set of features and it looks GORGEOUS!
We also went to see a pool that had this type of finish and it's just as beautiful in person as in the pictures.
Just another variable to muck things up.
P.s. About your tile....we found a rock tile design that *appears* to be shapes of stone, but is really just sold in strips for accent decoration. It doesn't sound like it would offset the coping color enough to be effective, but seen in person, "works" better than traditional square waterline-type tiling. I either have to learn to post pictures or take a creative writing class......lol
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