I am getting in early here. I know it is still summer in Sydney at the moment but give it just a few more weeks and it will start to get cold. It won’t be too long until I can have my dream backyard and one of the items I wanted included in the garden design was an awesome fire pit. The only problem is I haven’t been able to make my mind up about which one I would like. So, I thought I would try something new and reach out to you to get your opinion. For those that have been reading this blog regularly you would have discovered by now that I am an internet research warrior. I love researching the various options available and then presenting a summary to you of what I find so if you are ever looking for something similar you won’t have to spend the hours researching. That is one of the main reasons I started this blog, plus I want to reach out to people with similar interests and start a mini community of sorts, but I digress.

I found that most fire pits come in sizes of between 20 inches and 50 inches. This may not be entirely accurate but I did find that most of the smaller pits came in a bowl type shape. I would like to have a medium sized fire pit and I need to be wary that I can’t place it too close to my fence or any plants. I’m not sure exactly how far the heat travels from the fire pit itself but I assume I will want chairs to be around 2 metres way which should allow for comfortable heat. There will be a small hard surface area in my new backyard design for entertaining purposes so I hope to place the fire pit on it. Given the surface will likely be made of hard stone or tile, it will be fire resistant which is great.

Upon reading up on fire pits I discovered there were actually many different types available. A google search for fire pits yields results for sort of built in, or bricked type large pits with seats and then a fireplace in the middle. Unfortunately I don’t have the room in my townhouse backyard for something that big so I am after free-standing fire pits.

My pre-requisites are as follows:

• I want it to have rustic, damaged metal type look. Something that looks weathered, not shiny and new looking.
• It has to look unique. I would like my family and friends to say, “I have never seen one like that before”.
• It has to be of medium size. Not too small that it is barely noticeable, I want it to be a centrepiece of sorts. Not too big that it dominates the smallish backyard that I have.
• It has to be movable so that I can move it into the garage or to a temporary storage area during summer if I need to use the space for something else. I am not expecting miracles here, I know it will be heavy and I don’t expect it to be ‘easily movable’ but I would prefer that it wasn’t permanently fixed to the ground.

Without further ado, here are the options I settled on. Which one do you like the most? Let me know in the comments below.

Option 1 and 2 are available from outdoorfirepits.com.au whilst Option 3 is available from thefirepitgallery.com.au

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

 

On a Friday, it isn’t unusual for me to start to think of outdoor activities to do on the weekend. Given we are still experiencing good long Australian Summer days at the moment I am finding that the kids like heading into the backyard for a play later in the afternoon/evening when it is a bit cooler. That got me thinking….I wonder if there is anyway I could have our backyard garden ‘glow in the dark’. My daughter especially would love it as it would create a fairy land type atmosphere. So, like everything, once I had the idea I hit the internet to see what I could find. To save you hours of research I have compiled a ‘best of’ of all the things I found. I hope you enjoy.

GLOW IN THE DARK PLANTERS

Ok I have to admit these things look cool. Once I discovered ‘glow in the dark planters’ I found that there were a heap of different ready to use products available that you could simply purchase and use straight away once they arrived in the post. I do tend to like to make things myself if I can (it has to be simple and look as good as a normal product once finished). I stumbled across a great DIY article that shows you how to make these. Give it a go! Hint: using glow in the dark spray paint alone won’t work, you need to add a small light to the pot.

GLOW IN THE DARK PEBBLES

Do you currently have pebbles on a walkway or even laid on top of your garden bed? If so, you could replace them with glow in the dark pebbles. There are heaps of different options available, many can be purchased easily off ebay, you may just need a heap to do a whole walkway or garden bed, they are about the size of a cooked lima bean. Maybe just use them around potted plants or in a dedicated area. The pebbles glow a yellow green type colour in the dark for approx two to three hours after a day in the sun. During normal daylight they turn a light green colour.

GLOW IN THE DARK ORNAMENTS

These are by far the best thing I found during all of my internet research. I have even seen them for sale at Bunnings so you can pick some up today if you wanted to give them a go, they are glow in the dark ornaments and they come in different shapes and sizes. My favourite one so far is the earth type shape which naturally glow in the dark (pictured below). The lady beetles look pretty good too. A full range can be found on this website.

So there you have it. With a combination of some glow in the dark planters, glow in the dark pebbles and glow in the dark ornaments you can turn your garden into a nighttime visual extravaganza! What? Too dramatic Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments section below.