Archive for the 'Outdoor Fireplaces' Category
Add Elegance To Your Backyard With Outdoor Stone Fireplaces
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 by PyroAdding a stone fireplace to your backyard space provides warmth and elegance. While bonfires and chimneas are excellent starters, real stone fireplaces are more elegant, long lasting and they will likely increase the value of your home. Adding a real stone fireplace to your patio will simply make it inviting. Additionally, a real fireplace is safer and longer lasting than chimneas or fire pits.
How can you obtain the elegance and richness of a stone fireplace at a reasonable price? The answer is thin veneer. Real stone veneer can be placed as a facing on fire worthy bricks or fire stones and nobody will guess you did not build the whole fireplace with solid stones. Why? Well, simply because thin stone veneers are made with real stones. They are not cultured stones. This means they are more fire resistant, they resist chipping and fading. And even if they do get chipped, the color is solid right through the stone because they are real stones.
Why Add a Fireplace to Your Outdoors?
Fireplaces can extend the seasons. With a cozy fireplace you and your family and friends can spend cool spring evenings and late fall nights by a cozy fire outside. Just imagine drinking hot tea or cocoa, roasting marshmallows and eating smores by a real stone fireplace in your outdoor living space. You’ll feel like you are indoors, all warm and toasty, yet you can enjoy the smells and sounds of the gorgeous outdoor evenings with your loved ones. Winter days can also be pleasant to spend by your outdoor stone fireplace if you live in milder climates.
Cool summer nights can make wonderful dinner parties. A stone fireplace can set the tone for the entire evening. Turn on some pleasant music and let the crackling of the fire draw your guests together. Or sit out in the quiet by yourself or with your loved ones and enjoy a quiet evening only interrupted by the gentle crackle of a real fireplace.
Unlike fire pits or chimneas, stone fireplaces can be safer for friends and family to be around. Fire pits can be hazardous to small children while chimneas can be easily knocked over. However, a well built fireplace with an iron screen can protect your family from sparks and while the stone walls can protect people from getting burned if they accidently lean against it.
How To Use Veneer
Natural thin stone veneer is used exactly like fake stones. Simply build a fireplace with cheap fire bricks or fire stones according to the manufacturer’s directions. Then install the stone veneer on the outside of the structure. Nobody will be able to tell if you used 1 and ½ inch veneer or 10 inch stones. Your secret will be safe and your pocket book will be fatter.
Stone veneer comes in a wide variety of styles from square cuts, round cuts, and even natural looking stones. They cost a lot less to purchase and are easier to install than real fireplace stones. You can choose form a variety of colors and textures too. They look like real stones because they are real stones quarried from Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona pits.
Stone veneer is shipped in easy to handle corrugated plastic boxes. They are just as easy to install and maintain as fake veneers. Simply prepare the surface, apply the mortar, then apply the stone and mortar in between.
Adding A Stone Fireplace
If you already have a fireplace in your backyard or patio or even if you’ve been considering installing one, a natural thin stone veneer is the way to go. You won’t have to replace an old fireplace, simply “thin stone veneer it” instead.
But above all else, one of the greatest benefits is that you will have less work and less cost when you build a new fireplace by using this stone. A natural stone fireplace will add elegance, safety and a sense of class to your patio or backyard. Minimize your costs today by using natural thin stone veneer when you build your stone fireplace.
Elegant Stone Fireplaces are extremely durable, yet affordable when built with natural stone veneer. View the many different types of Natural Stone Veneer that Halquist Stone has to offer. For more information, call (262) 246-9000 or visit HalquistStone.com to request a free brochure.
Landscaping Ideas to Beautify Your Outdoor Space
Friday, September 19th, 2008 by Pyroby Sarah Duke
No matter the size, if your home has a yard you are certain to get a lot more enjoyment from it if you undertake some interesting landscaping ideas. You can add a water feature or a rock garden, or create a secluded nook shaded by trees and shrubs. You can probably come up with even more own ideas of your to make your yard more pleasant and attractive.
One of the more popular landscaping ideas today is to create a walkthrough garden. Carefully select the perfect flowers to lend color and charm to your outdoor space. A mix of annuals and perennials is ideal because it reduces your labor and cost while still allowing for the more colorful show that annuals provide. Investigate various kinds of shrubs and trees to provide contrast and balance. And place some stepping stones throughout the garden to encourage easy enjoyment of the surroundings.
Another great landscaping idea is to create different sections in your yard, each with a distinct feature, then unify the entire space by repeating certain aspects of each section in other parts of the yard. You don’t have to have a large yard to pull this off, either.
If children will be making use of your yard, designate a section of it as a play area for them to enjoy. A wooden play set will look more natural and blend in with the surrounding landscaping features. Adding a tree house lends even more interest to your outdoor space.
A lawn is frequently a big part of any landscaping effort. Choose a variety of grass that’s appropriate for your soil conditions and climate so you’ll have a luxurious expanse of green to set off your other natural features. Surrounded by trees, shrubs and flowers, a lawn can be an attractive showpiece.
Many people like to include a water feature in their yard. Ponds and waterfalls add a dramatic touch to your outdoor decor, and the sound of water is considered very soothing by many people. There’s a huge variety of designs and products from which you can choose. Your only limits are your budget and available space.
A rock garden is a perfect solution for problem areas of your yard where it’s difficult for many plants to thrive. Maybe it’s a spot that’s too dry or the soil conditions won’t support plant growth. Or perhaps it’s an area that doesn’t drain well and is always wet and soggy. Putting in a rock garden that includes a few exceptionally hardy plants can be ideal for these problem areas. But it’s also an attractive and low maintenance feature for any area of your yard.
There’s no doubt that landscaping can provide you with great enjoyment, both in the process and the final result. Do your research, get some professional advice if necessary, make a plan, and get going! That’s all it takes to turn your landscaping ideas into reality.
Building Outdoor Fireplaces With Your Family
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008 by PyroIf you are interested in spending some quality time with your family this summer, you may want to start with building outdoor fireplaces. This simple constructive act can demonstrate the ability of your family to get along and accomplish a task. Even despite all of the possible problems you may have with your family, you can still get together and accomplish a task that involves putting together and building outdoor fireplaces. This proves something in a day and age that seems to disregard family and the family unit as a powerful tool in society.
If your family is anything like my family, they will enjoy the act of building outdoor fireplaces because it will give them the chance to upstage one another. One will always want to carry more bricks than the other, for example, to prove that they are stronger. From this point, more quality building action can follow and before you know it you will be standing before a well-built fireplace for the outdoors that you can now enjoy in your backyard. The methodology of getting to that point is something that can last a lifetime as you have your family over to build lots of things in the future.
Learning About Life Through Outdoor Fireplaces
There are a lot of experiences in life that can bring a family together, but sitting outside under the stars as you enjoy the product of building outdoor fireplaces is something that is hard to forget. Imagine the joy as you look at one another with faces aglow from the warm orange fire, taking in the environment and the fact that you are enjoying it as a result of a job well done. This type of satisfaction brings families together and creates greater bonds that cannot be broken. Learning about life through outdoor fireplaces may seem like an unlikely place to start, but it’s as good a place as any.
Building outdoor fireplaces, then, is not so much just a task at hand but it can be a revolutionary experience that your whole family can enjoy. It can bring people together of all races, religions, and creeds under the flaming virtue of a job well done and can create a new legacy within your own family, too. Never discount the action of doing work together and accomplishing a goal, as things like building outdoor fireplaces have a way of bringing out the best in people.
