Can we get directly to the point about tiny living -- sometimes the best part about it is actually stepping OUT of the tiny home.
In one of our blogs we wrote about our "project priority list", and Fire pit was #6 (you can see that list HERE).
Our outdoor space is SO important as a family.
The time between December - mid March can feel very long in 400 sq ft.
Even if you have activities or you're active.
If its -20 you can't really spend hours upon hours outside soaking in vitamin D or moving your body....or at least we don't. Although we love to ski at Kicking Horse Ski Mtn
In late February -- we all started to get "cabin fever, I was getting cranky, kids were cranky, Neil was cranky...the dogs Frank and Enzo were cranky -- we just felt this intense UHHH go away winter feeling. We really just kept trying to focus on the positive but the snow kept covering our positivity. It was SNOWING all the time lol. We took a trip to Copperpoint to break up the winter a little - and it worked until...we started to feel the winter itch to do things again! It has NOTHING to do with being unhappy in a tiny house -- and everything to do with being project people -- we love DOING things.
So with all the time inside we started to map out some of the projects, and decided the Fire Pit could likely be started sooner rather than later! It was also a low cost and somewhat quick project to tackle while the snow was melting!
What our fire pit area looked like before:
The evolution of the Fire Pit Plan:
Initially I wanted this big swing....big twinkle lights and luscious green grass around the fire. But -- realizing that we live on clay/ and a solid mountain the grass concept had to go and the big swing would actually block our view of the mountains which when you're sitting around a fire: a view is much appreciated.
We pivoted to gravel, a spot to put 4 Airdrondack chairs and a rock wall that would act as a retaining wall so the water and snow wouldn't destroy the perfect circle Neil would make! . It was all Neil--- I did very little except say "that looks amazing, no Neil let's move this 200 pound rock a little to the right...okay great job it's almost perfect, wait...I think we need black chairs not grey ones hahaha << small detail!
That's only 80% true (about me not working), I did shovel...move dirt, and do some heavy lifting - it was a team effort, but Neil had a vision and stuck to it. It looks fucking awesome & is perfect for the mountain lifestyle......no stupid twinkling lights that will NOT survive one little deer sniff lol.
By the way - Pinterest doesn't take into account WHERE You live when you look at it.
So careful what you PIN ...and what you desire, I'm realizing that anything is possible but you do have to acknowledge where YOU are lol. Let your own desires and location come up with what you're stuff looks like.
The steps we took to building an outdoor fire pit area at our tiny house:
1. We measured out a circle that measures 16 ft to fit 4 chairs comfortably and be able to walk around...we wanted to make it big enough but not HUGE. We used orange spray paint to outline the area that would need to be shoveler ($20)
2. We (aka Neil) spent 2 days digging out the fire pit area as well as the path that leads to the fire pit. I say this like it's no big deal...but the path is about 20 ft long...and we live on the side of a mountain (there's rock and rough clay everywhere....and it was really early April which means the ground was frozen) we bought a new shovel because our old one snapped - $30
3. We found a gravel company in golden that sells rock (yay!) and instead of having it delivered (+$900) we got two truck loads for $30....it sucked to have to shovel it out of the truck but....its kind-of-a-big deal to save that much money! We spent $30
4. The fire pit stones where purchased last year off of Kijiji for $90 because we knew we would need them and Golden doesn't always have a lot on Kijiji!
Total on fire pit stones: $90
5. The Airdrodack chairs were on sale for $24 each (they are plastic!) and we got them from Home Hardware BEFORE the mad summer rush and no chairs will be available. Living in a small town has taught me to be very prepared in advance --- because the stores do run out & you don't have any other options. You do without :)
Total on chairs: $100
The total cost of our new fire pit zone was less than $400!
This is an area we use almost every evening to wind down, have our wine, sit and chat or have the kids eat marshmallows.
Worth the $$$$, and since we are 90% complete (we still want to put some flowers around it) we've used it at least 20 times.
Our previous estimated cost for our tiny home fire pit was $1500-$2500.
We think if we would have hired a company the cost would have been closer to $2500!!
Actual cost of the fire pit and pathway : $400
In our project priority list we had a budget of $1500, and it was WAY under that because of Neil's hard work and the cost of gravel being so cheap!
I posted a video of the fire pit progress over on my www.instagram.com/meganmooremarketing account - check under the reels and watch!
- Megan xo
Our family of four lives in a 400sqft tiny home, while running a Marketing Agency in Golden British Columbia.
