The days are getting shorter, and you’ve experienced a familiar problem. Your guests on your back patio can barely see each other across the dinner table to pass the salt. Do you turn on some twinkle lights? Light a tiki torch? What else could make this evening fun and magical, adding to the ambiance while providing the practical addition of light?
Enter the outdoor fireplace. This isn’t your camping fire ring with rust on the sides – this is a gorgeous, stone-trimmed fireplace that has a high-end patio surrounding it, making it perfect as a centerpiece for excellent backyard entertaining even as it also can get the job done when you want to roast a few marshmallows.
So why the buzz about outdoor fireplaces for your patio lounge areas? Here are a few reasons why they’ve become a major glow in 2021 housing trend reports.
They transport you to the resort, no airplane required.
The right outdoor fireplace for your backyard doesn’t just make you feel like singing a campfire song. It also makes you feel like you’re at a seaside resort, resting after a long day riding the waves or enjoying the fresh air after a spa treatment. Much of the patterning of the popular outdoor fireplaces that are en vogue now is coming from outdoor fireplaces that have been hardscape additions to resort properties for years. It’s time to make home feel like a true staycation!
They promote comfort and conversation.
Something about a fire is just an elemental part of having a great evening. Whether you lapse into storytelling, play a silly party game, or simply watch the flames between bouts of talking, the fire has always had a role in the outdoor entertaining scene. What’s nice about an outdoor fireplace, too, is that they tend to be lower maintenance than the camping-fire variety of firepit, since many are either electric or gas and all have built in features to make it easy to keep a wood-burning fire active without lots of effort.
They are a practical extension of the comfortable-outdoors season.
When the cold and dark months encroach on outdoor-entertaining season, people want a way to still get a little fresh air even as much of the dinner-party process retreats to the coziness of indoors. A heat-generating outdoor fireplace can create a cocoon of warmth that can serve as an after-dinner lounge even as fall gets a little cooler, and turning the outdoor fireplace on can be the first step to welcome in spring after a cold winter.
While most people are choosing outdoor fireplace upgrades in response to a felt desire to enjoy the resort-style entertaining potential they bring, they also add to the value of your home. With the surge in interest there have been higher sale prices for homes with these features than in the past, though how much you put into a luxury upgrade can change the actual ROI quite a bit. While we always encourage you to add a home upgrade for your own enjoyment, the boost in home sale desirability can’t hurt, especially if you know the next few years could see you selling your home and buying a different one.