Cold nights in Long Island, NY, may have you fantasizing about the upcoming summer entertaining season. With months to go, this is the opportune time to think through ways you want to improve your outdoor living space for the most enjoyable of evenings. Consider that fire features can contribute not only to warmth but ambience—and can also extend your entertaining season well into the deep fall. When the summer is over and the evening air turns crisp, you can still enjoy the fire—especially with some key masonry features. Here’s how masonry enhances fireside living spaces.
Fire brings people together whether you favor installing a masonry outdoor fireplace that transforms an ordinary patio into a cozy outdoor living room, a fire pit for a fun campfire experience, a chic fire table for an unforgettable dining experience, or even a fireplace with a pizza oven.
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Retaining Walls
Retaining walls are used to hold back earth, but they are also important landscape features that maximize usable space. Imagine a fire pit or fireplace tucked into the hillside, surrounded by a tall retaining wall with built-in bench seating. This space will feel warmer both physically and emotionally.
Water Features
Water and fire are opposites that pair beautifully in a landscape. A fireplace with an adjacent waterfall or water wall combines the soothing movement of both elements. At night, the look is dramatic and unforgettable! Even in winter when the water is turned off, the masonry wall behind the water feature remains attractive.
Seating Walls
A cluttered patio is tough to avoid if you want to squeeze all your friends around the fire. But this issue can be addressed by curving a seating wall (with or without a backrest) around the fire feature. That way, everyone gets an opportunity to soak up the heat and enjoy the dance of the flames, especially around a fire pit. Curving a seating wall around a modern three-sided fireplace will achieve the same effect—and give you an opportunity to warm up several distinct activity areas, such as an outdoor kitchen/dining area and a seating area.
An Integrated Fire and Cooking Experience
Placing an outdoor fireplace immediately adjacent to an outdoor kitchen or grill station transforms the space into an outdoor “heart of the home.” It seems that everyone automatically congregates in an indoor kitchen and they like to do the same outdoors. Giving them a fireplace to sit beside will keep everyone in on the action.
Fire Bowls
Consider adding drama to your outdoor living space by having multiple fire pillars installed. These masonry pillars are topped with copper, concrete, or metal bowls reminiscent of the Olympic flame set atop a stone base. As an entry point to the patio—or to frame a spectacular view—these are elegant, and definitely unforgettable!
Privacy Wall
A masonry privacy wall acts much like a retaining wall in holding in the heat of a fireplace, and providing a secluded nook in which to relax and socialize. The modern trend is toward simplicity and monochromatic color schemes, such as stacked flagstone; this can either be echoed in the fireplace veneer, or serve as a contrast to it for even more interest.
Storage
A wood-fired fireplace requires storage for wood that’s protected from the elements. But you can apply this design method to gas-fueled fireplaces too. The niches normally reserved for wood can be used to house treasures from your travels, driftwood, ornamental rocks, or even flower pots.
Unlike any other landscape feature, masonry does an amazing job of marrying beauty and function. It is long-lasting, versatile, low-maintenance, and has endless uses to make your outdoor living spaces more usable.
