Outdoor Fireplaces

A couple by the name of Ashcroft called us about 3 years ago. They said they had always wanted a fireplace, but they felt the winters in Houston were too mild to justify building one indoors. They asked us if we would construct a patio with an outdoor fireplace for them. The idea was to extend the feeling of the living room and center it on a warm element that would make any chilly night both comfortable and pleasant for gathering outside.

Outdoor fireplaces like this are much more useful in parts of the country like ours. On colder nights, they generate plenty of heat, and on warm nights, they offer architectural aesthetic. To create this type of center point, however, would require building more than just the structure itself. It required laying down stonework in such a way as that would make a person feel like they were sitting around a fireplace in a living room. This was eventually done through the use of symmetrically square, interlocking pavers in a pattern that were laid down in a way that alluded to indoor tile.
The outdoor fireplace itself was built entirely of natural stone. The chimney portion was approximately 2 ½ times as high as the fireplace interior, and presented a stately motif against the backdrop of the landscape. Two flanking columns, both slightly higher than the fireplace interior, were constructed on either side. This added a formal, Old World touch to the structure that naturally drew the eye toward the logs that were burning in the interior on cooler nights. It was necessary to do one more thing, however, to make certain this elegant feature was enjoyable throughout the year. On nights too warm to light a fire, it was still possible to enjoy the illusion of fire by using special, concealed lighting to illuminate both the interior of the flue and the exterior stones and flanking columns. This created a very sublime interplay of fire and stone that rose into the night with a sense of the majestic.

Meanwhile, at one end of the patio, there was a drop-off that led down to a stone walkway leading around the corner of the house. We extended the edge of the patio here into a stone wall that circled out and back over this drop-off. This provided us with a natural planter for a number of indigenous plant species, including a small oak that would provide shade in future years as well as a place to hang an outdoor chandelier.

We would love an opportunity to consult with you in creating a outdoor room with fireplace for your Houston backyard. Exterior Worlds has been providing the high quality residential landscape services and garden design services discussed above for the Memorial villages (Piney Point Village, Bunker Hill Village, Hunters Creek Village), Tanglewood, River Oaks, West University and the greater Houston, area since 1987. Contact us at 713-827-2255.