10 Ideas for Outdoor fireplaces

MyGardenSchool garden design tutor, John Brookes solidified the concept of the Room Outside with his bestselling garden design book first published in the 60s (also see John's Online Garden Design Course for more inspiration).  It was a pivotal book for the landscape design industry – and since then, people have begun to take more seriously the merging of their outdoor and indoor spaces and functions.   Especially with a global recession in full swing, we are all tending to stay put and optimise what we have.  We’re recycling, regenerating and spicing up our existing gardens – rather trading up.  We’re in the age of the ‘staycation’ and trends for outdoor kitchens and offices are at an all-time high.

A massive bold yellow wall isn’t to everyone’s taste – but landscape architect Rob Pressman the somehow has made this 14-foot retaining wall running the length of Fegie and Moshe Barkan’s hillside home in Studio City, California, into the focal point for a series of open-air rooms. In the sitting area, the wall becomes a yellow fireplace complete with log storage, art niches, seating walls and planters.  Could be good in other colours too.

Landscape architect Rob Steiner pared down the fireplace to the simplest of forms for Charles Eglee and Ninkey Dalton’s spa in Pacific Palisades, . Set alongside the spa and rolling mahogany spa cover, the fireplace is made of aggregate concrete and a sheet of oxidized steel bent to protect foliage, bounce heat back into the space and align with the wood trim.
Rob Steiner, 323-931-4425;www.robsteinergardens.com.

Cliff and Marcie Goldstein went for an extension “with a resort feel” where they could relAX AND entertain. Santa Monica nights tend to be chilly, so a fireplace was the natural focal point for this 20-by-30-foot outdoor living space created between the back garage wall and the kitchen by landscape architect Mark Beall. To tie into the scale of the house, Beall used trellis beams to create a ceiling and installed French doors to make an easy connection between interior and exterior. He also matched plaster finishes and paint colors with the house, while interior designer Kristin Pon selected fireplace tile and outdoor furniture to echo the rich earth tones of the kitchen.
Mark Beall + Associates, 323-662-8252;www.mbeall.com. Kristin Pon, 310-312-1207.

Jennifer Grey (aka Baby in Dirty Dancing) and Clark Gregg, both actors, wanted a casual place outside their Los Angeles pad to sit around a fire and eat. But their yard was small, so landscape architect Rob Steiner designed a combination fireplace and dining table as an exterior extension of their living room, reached from the house via a set of glass doors that opens to a generous 12 feet. Set on a carpet of Del Rio pebbles and surrounded by a hedge of ‘Goodwin Creek Grey’ lavender and an olive tree, the concrete fire table takes the chill out of the air during morning coffee and evening dessert. It also serves as a convenient footrest, encouraging everyone seated around it to kick back and join in the conversation. The core of the fireplace is constructed of smooth-stuccoed concrete block; reinforcing steel supports the poured concrete tabletop.

Rob Steiner, 323-931-4425;www.robsteinergardens.com.