Revisiting the outdoor room—beyond the barbecue.

Originally published in Saltscapes Home and Hearth, 2007.

On peaceful evenings from late spring until well into autumn, you will often find my longsuffering spouse and me relaxing out in the back garden of our rural property, contemplating the fire burning in our old iron chimenea and listening to the symphony of birds, insects, and even waves hitting the shoreline not far away. There is something about the warmth and light of an outdoor fire that sooths the spirit as it warms our bodies.

We’re not alone in enjoying many an evening in the privacy of our own yard. The scientific community tells us our climate is changing, warming up dramatically, and one effect of this warming trend is that we’re eager to spend more time outdoors earlier and later in the year. Factor in political unrest and uncertainty in other parts of the world, and the ever-spiking cost of gasoline, and more of us are opting to spend more time at home. Rather than spending money on travelling, we’re investing in our properties, both indoors and out. Many of us are creating specialized outdoor ‘rooms’—no longer just for barbecuing a few chicken wings or burgers, but to enjoy for longer periods of the day and for longer parts of the year.

In gardening terms, we used to consider an outdoor room as a destination away from the house, a secluded nook where you can read or think or even putter among the plants. But more and more people are creating garden rooms as extension of their actual living and entertaining spaces, and are spending significant amounts of time here. Some are focusing on the outdoor cooking which is a part of an Atlantic Canada summer, but also want to be able to relax in comfortable furnishings and bask in the warmth of heat from a fire.

Allison and Kevin Mossman treat their one-acre lot in Pereaux, Kings County, as an extension of their home. There are several dedicated rooms, including the back deck where they regularly barbecue and eat meals, the in ground pool with its fence acting as a backdrop for several perennial borders, and two smaller rooms where the warming glow of a fire encourages them to pause and relax from the busyness of daily life.

“We really wanted a firepit, so we built one in-ground,” Kevin says, “and created a circular patio of brick all around it for the chairs.” The Mossmans spend as much time as they can outdoors from spring until fall, and this is a favourite spot for relaxing with coffee in the mornings or unwinding with a cool drink in the evenings. They know they’re not alone in this. “People want to get outside and enjoy their yards, as soon as the snow is off the grass,” Kevin observes. “We value the time spent in our own backyard and having a warm spot to sit makes it even more enticing earlier in the season.

A newly added outdoor room developed out of a practical approach to lawn care and a desire to recycle. Kevin explains, “Allison was given a Japanese wisteria when she left her job as an educational assistant at the local school.” Knowing that this woody, vining plant needs support for best growth, Kevin designed a new room with a pergola, and paved a sitting area under the pergola with fieldstone. “This part of the yard never grew well, either as grass or garden, from the time when past owners would have used that spot as a site to dump trash. So rather than fight with trying to get things to grow, we created a spot where we can sit and enjoy the rest of the property.” An old woodstove, once used to heat the house but long since relegated to storage, was given a second lease on life as Kevin recycled it as a source for heat in the room.

Kevin and Allison designed and created their outdoor rooms on their own, inspired by designs they’d seen in magazines as well as from visiting with friends, and recycling items to use as burning areas. Other homeowners may not know exactly what they want, or where to start in creating this exterior extension to their homes, and may want the ease and convenience of a prefabricated appliance for heating their outdoor room.

Here’s where a landscape designer, such as Linda van Vulpen of Halifax, can be a tremendous help. She has frequent requests to incorporate heating or cooking appliances into outdoor rooms she designs for clients. “Functionality, safety and aesthetic quality are the primary considerations in designing an outdoor room with heating appliances,” she says. Outdoor firepits (see sidebar: outdoor heating: a homeowner’s primer) are one of the most popular choices. Linda will consider how many people will be using the space and what the room is themed towards—a cooking/dining space, more of a living/relaxation area—as well as how close to the house the room will be located.

There’s also the question of the homeowner’s tastes in designing the part of their outdoor room used for heating and cooking. Some prefer a more formal look, constructing a dedicated area with interlocking paving materials, and perhaps matching benching or purchased furniture to complete the look. Some may opt for a more casual space with a raised or sunken burning pit constructed into an open lawn, but it must be constructed in fire-safe enclosures using a range of manufactured materials, including firebrick.

In many municipalities, “There are regulations on the clearance required for firewood burning devices,” Linda says. In Halifax Regional Municipality, for example, there must be a 15-foot clearance in all directions from combustible materials, so this determines the positioning of the fire pit with its seating area. Naturally, all firewood needs to be dry and seasoned for burning with little to no smoke production.

For those not keen on using wood as an outdoor heat source there are appliances available that replicate the open firepit or fireplace, but use gas for fuel instead of firewood. There are even electric fireplaces, new to the market this year. With these appliances too, Linda says, ‘the decision to purchase a device like this is the homeowners—the placement is the designer’s concern.”