For the last 3 or 4 years, my friend who helps out half a day a week has been hounding me to redo our fire pit area. I had set it up myself probably 10 years ago, just putting down 12 by 12 inch pavers in a square 12 or so feet on a side. I mostly leveled the area, but weeds were always a problem poking up through the cracks. I had some decent furniture out there and a metal fire pit that was maybe 30 inches across.
Last summer, I gave the furniture and the fire pit piece to our older daughter when she moved into a condo a couple miles from our house. Now I finally have the impetus to get going on the redo, because this weekend I got the most awesome centerpiece for the seating area. For the last 14 years, I've had season tickets to Florida Gator baseball. They just built a new stadium that the team will move into next year and the old one is to be demolished next month. I had been joking for a year that I was going to steal our four seats after the last game in the stadium, but the athletic department came through. They emailed season ticket holders offering the chance to buy old seats for only $150 each. I immediately signed up and asked if there was any way we could get our actual four seats. I really wanted our seats since our kids grew up in the ballpark and I even took our grandson to a game or two when he was just three or four months old. To my utter amazement, the seat numbers on the four they brought out to my truck match and we do indeed appear to have our four seats. Here they are in the back of the truck:
We'll have to build legs, but my guy can pull that off with no problem. He wants to pull up the pavers, level the area properly and set them with proper filling in between and landscape cloth underneath so the weeds don't come back.
For the actual fire pit, I've just started poking around and really love the looks of the Big Horn 47 inch black steel fire pit. It burns wood and has a charcoal pan insert. It has a grill, of course, and can be raised or lowered in a semi-Santa Maria style. I think it will work really well for sitting around a fire or for grilling burgers, dogs and s'mores with the grandkids. It isn't very expensive, either. Does anyone have any experience with this beast? Or does anyone have a suggestion that would be even better?
I haven't started thinking about the rest of the seating and tables, so suggestions there are welcome. The area sits adjacent to a small arena we put in where my wife works her horse before riding him out into the neighborhood. It's separated from the neighbors by brush on two sides and I put a nice lantana bed between it and the rest of the back yard.
I'm not putting up pics of the area just now because it's in serious transition. The arena is partly dismantled because we got hit really hard by pine beetles and the last few dead trees will be coming out as soon as tomorrow, weather permitting. Then it's full speed ahead on the reset.
Last summer, I gave the furniture and the fire pit piece to our older daughter when she moved into a condo a couple miles from our house. Now I finally have the impetus to get going on the redo, because this weekend I got the most awesome centerpiece for the seating area. For the last 14 years, I've had season tickets to Florida Gator baseball. They just built a new stadium that the team will move into next year and the old one is to be demolished next month. I had been joking for a year that I was going to steal our four seats after the last game in the stadium, but the athletic department came through. They emailed season ticket holders offering the chance to buy old seats for only $150 each. I immediately signed up and asked if there was any way we could get our actual four seats. I really wanted our seats since our kids grew up in the ballpark and I even took our grandson to a game or two when he was just three or four months old. To my utter amazement, the seat numbers on the four they brought out to my truck match and we do indeed appear to have our four seats. Here they are in the back of the truck:
We'll have to build legs, but my guy can pull that off with no problem. He wants to pull up the pavers, level the area properly and set them with proper filling in between and landscape cloth underneath so the weeds don't come back.
For the actual fire pit, I've just started poking around and really love the looks of the Big Horn 47 inch black steel fire pit. It burns wood and has a charcoal pan insert. It has a grill, of course, and can be raised or lowered in a semi-Santa Maria style. I think it will work really well for sitting around a fire or for grilling burgers, dogs and s'mores with the grandkids. It isn't very expensive, either. Does anyone have any experience with this beast? Or does anyone have a suggestion that would be even better?
I haven't started thinking about the rest of the seating and tables, so suggestions there are welcome. The area sits adjacent to a small arena we put in where my wife works her horse before riding him out into the neighborhood. It's separated from the neighbors by brush on two sides and I put a nice lantana bed between it and the rest of the back yard.
I'm not putting up pics of the area just now because it's in serious transition. The arena is partly dismantled because we got hit really hard by pine beetles and the last few dead trees will be coming out as soon as tomorrow, weather permitting. Then it's full speed ahead on the reset.
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