Our first renovation was in a condo, so going from being responsible for a sweet little garden, to two acres of wilderness has been quite a tall order. Since the weather is finally amazing, the inside projects have been temporarily put on hold while we get our curb appeal up to speed. This property has a lot of gravel, and stone areas that we had to decide what to do with. We wanted functional areas that we would use, as well as anyone who lives here after us. Landscaping is nice and all - but can it make you s'mores? Nope.
We decided to build a fire pit in this odd little alcove of shrubs off of our deck/kitchen area. It's underneath a really pretty magnolia, and near the stairs leading to the kitchen and deck so going in and out is simple. This property, besides lots of gravel had TONS of pavers in weird shapes and patterns - very 70s, so we decided to repurpose them. This project cost us Joe's favorite price.. FREE NINETY NINE. With a little left over mortar from the bathroom tile (link), pavers I could't wait to get rid of, and a little sweat equity we got to work.
To start, we needed to level out the space.
Moving rocks and dirt is a lot harder than it looks, we also widened the space to include that very cool rock to the right (extra seating!) that we both love.
Almost even!
Once we picked a center point and leveled out the ground we marked circumference of the pit.
Then we laid the ground work, literally, and mixed the mortar.
We applied a small amount of mortar to each brick as we laid them down. On the second row we left a space every 3-4 pavers, to allow air to get to the fire from underneath.
It must have been fate we had enough left over mortar to lay every brick, until the very last one.
We actually just stood and stared at it for a while, we get pretty excited to see things we plan come together.
We also added a few bricks on the second to last row, facing inward, that would allow a grate to be placed on top for cooking. (Update: We used a grate and made steaks with friends - delicious!)
Add a few bright colored chairs to the mix, and we're ready to go!
We obviously had to make smores immediately.
On to the next project!
Xo
A&J
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