From Indianapolis in central Indiana to Gary in the northwest, along the “South Shore” of Lake Michigan, the summers are pleasant. While the weather can vary widely, sometimes from one day to the next, the average temperature during the day is 80 degrees and 55 degrees at night. Interestingly, the fall climate in the northwest is positively affected by Lake Michigan, and the temperatures are higher there than in Indianapolis.
Residents in those areas have a nice long season for outdoor living. A fire pit will extend that time. It provides warmth, light, ambiance and a place where people naturally congregate to socialize. People have been gathering around fire forever. And of course, today we have the fire pit that also serves as a design element in your hardscaping, as simple or as elaborate as you might want or your budget allows.
Unilock offers a near endless selection of materials in order to make your fire pit an extension of your patio. How you mix or match, complement or contrast is up to you. Combining two materials often brings to your design a heightened visual interest. One suggestion: you can retain the cohesiveness among hardscape elements by paying special attention to the colors you choose. Here are some of the styles of fire pits to help guide your selection.
Sunken Fire Pit
This is the simplest fire pit. It’s round, has a relatively small circumference and is close to the ground. This unobtrusive design makes it perfect for complementing a view or other focal point in the surrounding landscape. While there are bigger and fancier fire pits, the sunken pit has its own primal charm that is emphasized with the natural look and feel of Cumberland Wall blocks.
Related Read: What You Need To Know About Fire Pit Coping for the Perfect Finish
Round Fire Pit
Rivercrest Wall blocks are flexible enough to build your round pit to an appropriate size, and they have a rugged finish that brings character, whether large or small. You can surround your round pit with a semi-circle of wall seating to set off the pit and provide extra seating space. Brussels Dimensional Stone is highly adaptable and the antique finish recreates the look of expensive natural stone. Toss some accent pillows onto the seat wall and you will have a comfortable and colorful fire pit area.
You can also incorporate a round fire pit into a curved wall for an aesthetically pleasing serpentine design in your hardscape. Combine Brussels Dimensional Stone with the weathered look of Olde Quarry for a really impressive design. The pit built into the wall also saves space and provides additional seating.
Square Fire Pit
The square fire pit is the most dramatic. The lines are crisp and clean and give your hardscaping a modern sleekness. Lineo Dimensional Stone is perfect for this purpose. It comes in various lengths for a plank look and is exceptionally flexible in design. Use a complementary color of the block for one row near the top to make your fire pit more eye-catching and dynamic.
The title image features a square fire pit built from Brussels Dimensional Stone with Ledgestone coping.
