Can You Help Design an Outdoor Living Area?
Yes. Our team can help you think through the fire feature, the materials, the placement, and the overall look of an outdoor space, whether you are creating a simple patio gathering area or building a larger outdoor kitchen.
Start with how you will use the space. This is the question that determines everything else, and it is worth answering honestly rather than aspirationally. Are you picturing four people with drinks on a Friday evening, or twelve people at a graduation party? Is this primarily a place to sit and talk, or a place to cook and eat? Will you use it mostly in July, or do you want it to work in October? Each answer pushes the design in a different direction.
Zones make outdoor spaces work. The most common mistake is putting everything in one cluster. Successful outdoor areas usually separate a seating and conversation zone from a cooking and prep zone, with enough distance that the person at the grill is not in everyone’s way and the people by the fire are not in the smoke. Even on a modest patio, defining two zones changes how the space functions.
Choosing the fire element. A fire table anchors a seating zone and works at conversation height. An outdoor fireplace creates a vertical focal point and a sense of enclosure, and extends the usable season by directing heat toward the seating area. A pizza oven or a grill anchors the cooking zone and gives people something to gather around and participate in. Larger projects often include more than one. Our overview of outdoor fire products covers the full range.
Materials tie it to the house. This is where outdoor projects either look designed or look assembled. Stone and brick veneer on an outdoor fireplace, a chimney chase, a seat wall, or a kitchen island is what visually connects the outdoor space to the architecture of the home. Carrying a material or a color from an indoor fireplace out to the patio is a simple move that makes both spaces look intentional.
Practical planning items. Wind direction and where smoke will travel. Sun exposure and where shade will be needed in the afternoon. Traffic flow from the house to the space and through it. Gas supply, whether that is a run from the house or propane, and where a tank would sit. Lighting, which is what determines whether the space gets used after dark. Clearances from structures, fences, and overhangs. Surface material and whether it can carry the weight of masonry work.
Coordinating with others. On larger builds we regularly work alongside landscape contractors, builders, and designers, and it is much easier to place the fire feature and its gas and venting requirements early in that process than to retrofit it later. See working with homeowners, builders, and remodelers.
Our outdoor patio display shows products in context, and the gallery includes finished outdoor projects. Bring photos, dimensions, and any landscape plans you have, then contact us or stop by the showroom.