One of the projects I really wanted to tackle this summer was a fire pit. Luckily, the hubs was totally on board.  We started with the freebie washing machine tub I scored last year, which we set on two cinder blocks to keep the heat off the ground.

We stacked landscape stones around the tub, off setting the seams.  But after the second row we ran into a little problem, the ridge at the back of each stone required the next row to be a smidg bigger.  After a quick Pinterest search we learned that others using the same stones removed the ridge when building their fire pit, so we chose to do the same.

The hubs attacked them with his fancy power tools, but it wasn’t working as well as we hoped.  I suggested going old-school and use a hammer.

This time old-school worked better, so we stuck with it row by tedious and muscle building row.  Eventually we upgraded to a larger hammer which was a bit more efficient, although still time consuming.

Apparently all the noise we were making didn’t bother the dogs who napped on the deck nearby.  It truly is a rough life they live…
A puppy nap and several more rows of stones and we were almost done.  That’s when we ran out of stones.  Go figure.

The hubs picked up some more stones the next day so we could finish off the top row, where we left the little ridge in case it’s helpful for a future table top I want to build to cover the pit when it’s not in use.

It’s taller than most fire pits but it feels more impressive and should be safer for when we have little ones around.  The top row sits just above the top edge of the metal tub so the fire stays contained and the smoke rises a bit, keeping it out of our eyes when sitting around it.  We’re pretty pleased with how it turned out.

We only got to test it out once before Alaska’s burn ban took effect.  Hopefully, the conditions will improve soon and we can enjoy it again before the summer is over because next time I’m planning to create some backyard s’mores!