originally printed in Kansas City Home and Garden Magazine

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Today’s outdoor spaces are much more than a mere lawn with a patio and a few chaise lounges. Twenty-first century backyards are an extension of the home; they are living, breathing rooms with the stars for a ceiling and the earth as the footing. Homeowners expect the comforts and amenities of any other room inside their home. We demand luxurious fabrics for afternoon naps, sheltered areas to protect us from unsavory weather, state-of-the-art sound systems to echo through the trees, recreation areas to play, relaxation retreats to wind down, kitchens and bars for sustenance, and, especially, an irresistible fire to warm up by.

Fire, that elemental need of life, has become a common vernacular in outdoor havens. Most homeowners with a fire feature have no problem whittling away an evening in the comfort of their backyard, entranced by mesmerizing, dancing flames.

Outdoor fires are a fantastic portal to stimulating conversations; they elongate our enjoyment of the great outdoors, oftentimes deep into the winter months; and they return us to a simpler form of entertainment.

Fire features, whether a chimenea, a fire pit, a fireplace or a pizza oven, are a growing trend in the home industry. It is a continuation of the “cocooning” phenomenon seen over the last five years. While Americans collectively have poured billions into the remodeling of their homes, we’ve run out of spaces to fix up inside and have moved outside. This fashion is blatantly clear whether you are shopping at an upscale garden boutique or an everyday hardware store. Accessories to these infernos are billowing from the aisles and lighting up the registers.