DIY Fire Pit

Photo post! So as you may know, I've been working on the fire pit on and off for quite some time now. Before that was the major garden overhaul. The main reason behind all the work on the fire pit (lately) was because I had an article to write for Houzz, and I needed a finished fire pit before I could submit it. It was published today, so I have officially decided that the rest of the summer will be for hanging out and having fun. Not that I don't consider house projects to be fulfilling and fun. I mean, that's why I do them. But I need to be camping and canoeing and just hanging out.

Last summer was a wash between being sick for so long and the other various sad and bad things that happened and as a result, I don't even remember it being summer last year. So I think it's time that I stop going going going on house stuff and just hang out for a bit. I'm banning myself from feeling like I NEEEEED to finish things for at least a week. I know, that's kind of short...maybe I'll try for 2 weeks. We're going to kick it off with a trip down the Wisconsin River for a few days. Photos to come. For now, here are a few fire pit shots from beginning to end. Check out the full story here. *PS: I am absolutely elated and in super high spirits after reading all the lovely feedback over at Houzz. Thank you SO much, Houzz readers! :) :) :)

Weekend

Over the last couple of days, I spent a large portion of my time working on the area that surrounds our fire pit. I bought these flowers to put somewhere in that general vicinity about a week and a half ago and still haven't planted them. All because I haven't decided where to put them yet. I need to just pick a spot and move on already. I mean really, if I end up hating it, I can just move them.

Yesterday I transplanted a lot of flowers and laid more mulch and did some other little things here and there. It will be a much welcomed feeling when I'm finally happy, or at least content, with that area but we'll see when that happens. Looking at this photo that I snapped today does make me happy and helps me to remember that I need to appreciate all that I've done rather than dwell on what I feel like I still "need" to do.

Sometime this afternoon I opened my mailbox and found the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living resting inside and it made me cringe a little. I think I should probably void this publication from my life because I'm pretty sure it only fuels my struggles with perfectionism. I wish so badly that there was a switch I could turn off and just be fine with things rather than spending countless hours trying to get to the point where I'm okay with something. That would be the coolest thing ever. Or maybe the second coolest thing ever. But either way, I'd love it.

Party People

We had our party last night. I'm still in bed...it's 3:34 PM. We stopped getting crazy at about 4 this morning. And to think I was trying to make it till the sun came up? I'm glad I didn't. We haven't partied like that in a very long time. I had about 5 beers and 6 shots of tequila. Yeeesh. Usually I'll stop at about 3 beers, but I knew I'd most likely be in bed all day so I had to make it happen. I'm okay with wasting a day if it's only once in a great great while. And if I know I'll be sharing a hangover with people, it makes it a lot easier.

It was pretty much the first time that we had a large amount of friends over. Almost 30 people showed. My friends have been hassling me to have a party for over a year now, but I had to wait till the house was at least a little bit more me first. I'm glad I waited. We got lots of compliments and I felt like I was glowing all night because of it. I'm also glad that I decided to tackle the hallway because, interestingly enough, it was a very popular spot to hang out.

A few friends found some guitars and had a little jam session in the Guest Bedroom off the hallway. It was fun. We do need to improve our instrument selection, though. I recently started telling Joe that I want drums. Last night proved the fact that yeah, we do need some percussion instruments. We'll have some by the time the next party rolls around.

 

















So this was pretty much the funniest part of the night. I came into the living room and people were passing this wedding photo around...at first they were just saying "oh my god! erin with long hair! i can't even picture her with long hair!" and then it evolved into a new conversation. You can't really see it (that's okay...enough people have seen it now) but there is a pretty serious ass grab happening in the photo, compliments of Joe. My friends know I'm a blusher so they had a good time teasing me about it. Then they dragged Joe in and started high fiving and "yeah"ing him. That brought the shade of color on my face to the next level, haha.

Of course, much of the night was spent around the fire, too. It was a great night for some flames. The pit only suffered from one bruise (I'm super protective of my firepit!) and since I already have to pull the mortar out again before winter (i never did technically finish the fire pit) I'm not concerned about it. It hasn't seen a winter season yet and to say that I'm nervous about that would be a huge understatement. Once winter attempts to kick it's ass I'll know how tough it is and won't freak out as much.

Overall we had a great time. It was a nice way to say goodbye to the summer. My last day at Rutabaga is this week (i'll go back again after winter), so I was happy to spend time with friends from work.


There are two things that we need before the next one, though. A new camera and a sound dock for the iPod. Two things that have been on my wish list for years. I'm going to wait for Black Friday or Cyber Monday and get both of them if I can. The sound dock that I want is like $300 so that gives me about 60 days to talk Joe into it. :)

Finished

The fire pit was finished just in time for the Memorial Day party that we hosted.



















There is a little bit more work that I'd like to do around it, but it's good enough for now. I need a break from that thing. It consumed my life so much that if I see something as simple as broken tortilla chips, I think of this damn project- because the tortilla chips look just like the shape of the stones and uuugh if I had to fit any more of those things together I think I would have lost my mind.

The grass took a beating during the construction, so I have to work on that a bit. I would like to put in a stone patio around it next year. We'll see if I'm up for that when the time comes.

Project Details:
Time spent building: I don't know exactly, but my closest estimate is about 85 hours. It could have easily been 100, but I really don't care to admit to it taking that long. It's also difficult to come up with a number because I worked on it by myself most of the time, but Joe and my parents helped in the beginning and end, too. So there are a lot of variables that go into the amount of time it takes.
Cost: $450, approximately.
-Stone: $280, with enough leftover to make some nice paths in the yard.
-Concrete and Mortar: $70
-Fire Brick: $60
-Pea Gravel: $5
-Chisel: $15
-Ibuprofen: $6
Difficulty: Moderate. It was an easy enough process to learn but a pain in the ass to execute. It was also very hard on my back and pelvis because the rocks are so heavy to move around and because I had to bend down the entire time.
Tips: Get a chisel right away. I didn't get one until one of the last days and that's what killed me. The store was out of the one I needed at first, so I just forged ahead and kept forgetting to buy one whenever I was in Madison. That was the biggest mistake that I made.
Sources: The stone is from Midwest Decorative Stone and Landscape. Their prices are fair and they have a lot of neat rocks. I've added it to my list of favorite places. The concrete and mortar are from various hardware stores. I also spent a lot of time looking at photos that I gathered online as inspiration.

I'm going to post a photo set on flickr when I renew my pro-account.

I'll be back throughout the week to show you some other things I've been up to since finishing this on Friday.

Morels

Right now is Morel season. It's a big thing where we live.

Many people travel miles and miles from Madison to find them in natural areas, but Joe and I are lucky enough to have them in our own backyard.














The best part is laying under trees to pick them. The worst part is realizing that your husband probably has grass stains in the elbows of his work shirt while you are looking at the photo you just uploaded. But if that's really the worst thing, it must be a pretty fun adventure.

These are the ones that we found yesterday.














Had I realized that this stump was in the shape of a heart before I took the photos, I would have gotten a little more creative with the styling.
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Before mushroom hunting was fire pit building. Oy, this thing is going to be the end of me. So many hours, so little progress. It's very slow moving. Not only do the rocks have to fit nicely side by side, but they also have to level out as they near the top. Right now I'm at the "nearing the top" stage.












I thought that I only had about 20 hours to go as of yesterday morning. Then I worked on it for 6 hours and realized that I probably have more like 25 hours to go (after those 6 hours...). It's a love-hate thing. I love it because it's like gardening- quiet and calming, and it's outdoors. But I hate it because the stones are heavy and my back is asking me to stop. It's a lot of moving rocks around and bending at a funny stance. There is more trial and error with this project than anything. When I finally do get it right, I move onto the next stone, and then to the next...and then I finally decide that it's time to mortar them down.

Overall, I do like doing it. But the fact that I've spent 3 entire days off doing this only means that our yard is lacking in all other areas.

After I did this fire pit thing all day, I decided that I had to get something else done too. So I did the dishes that have been neglected for a couple of days. Or at least I tried to do them. That's when I cut my hand on a broken glass, realized I should go to Urgent Care for stitches, waited for Joe to get home from work (he was already on his way) and then finally headed out the door. It was determined that yes, it may be that I need 1 or 2 stitches, but that it's in a really bad spot for stitching so we're giving it 3 days to see if it will heal itself. The doctor said it would as long as I didn't bend/use that finger too much. Whew! The good thing was that I didn't have to clean it out since it happened in newly filled dish water. That's probably why it didn't hurt much. But it looks pretty nasty. Across the knuckle where my pointer finger begins on my right hand. The cool part is that I was told that I can't do the dishes for about 6 or 7 days. :)