The fire pit dream became a reality last week and it is thrilling! In late 2016 I had just moved from a Portland townhome with a balcony and HOA maintained front yard (i.e. patch of grass and a tree). I had never had a yard of my own to maintain and Fisher and I spent time outside each day reveling in the southern sunshine and space to roam. In fact, the only pictures I can find of this corner are of Fish in action!
Outbuildings, like sunrooms, are big in the south and were two more unfamiliar spaces. I knew myself well enough to know I’d need a landscaping service and therefore had no need for equipment storage. I already had one outbuilding in the opposite corner of the yard that looked like I could do something with, so this plastic one needed to go.
In addition to the storage building, there was a swing, which sounded charming until I realized it was dug in with utility poles and hadn’t been properly cared for.
Last year when we needed to have the yard graded and a retaining wall installed due to water getting under the house I decided to have the guys rip everything out and keep that corner of the yard natural. There isn’t much that will grow back there and we have so many oak trees surrounding our property that it just seemed easier to blow all the leaves back into that corner.
As the months passed and I realized we were spending a lot more time outside than we had previously, I started thinking about a fire pit area under these trees. The canopy is high enough that it wouldn’t be impacted by sparks and I wanted something small so we could roast some s’mores, hang out with our friends and enjoy the stars. I loved this fire pit from The Farmhouse for Five and talked to our landscaper about installing something similar.
And folks, we are almost there! The fire pit was finished last week (along with a dining/chaise lounge area under another large oak tree that I’ll show you soon!). She may not look like much now, but the trees are filling in, the Adirondack chairs are in the garage waiting on the Adirondack Chair Fairy to put them together, the actual fire pit should be here this week and I have a call into our lighting guy to hang some LED lights from the trees. I just need to fill in with all the pretties–cozy throws and soft pillows and the s’mores station to end all s’mores stations.
It brought me to tears. There is something so satisfying about dreaming up a little something and watching it come together over time. I can’t wait for the memories that will be made here and am so grateful to everyone who helped make this dream a reality!