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Great living space design doesn’t have to end at your house’s threshold. Your outdoor spaces are just as important for your overall enjoyment of your home, so why not add the one element that transforms an outdoor space into a homey, cozy hideaway where you can forget your worries—a fireplace. Here are our top three inspirations for a natural stone outdoor fireplace for your Mendham, NJ, home.
Natural stone bridges the gap between indoors and out. Stone reminds you that you are in nature, yet it is also mankind’s oldest building material—and nothing goes together more perfectly than fire and stone.
Natural stone is a versatile building material suitable for any design aesthetic. However, stone is more costly to install because it must often be cut on site. Unilock offers manufactured stone blocks perfect for outdoor fireplaces. Here we’ll explore three options that are more durable, cost-effective, and easier to install than natural stone yet offer the same aesthetic appeal.
Related Read: Showstopping Outdoor Fire Features for 2017
The Sleekness of Granite
For a sleek, modern look, Lineo Dimensional Stone from Unilock features a linear multi-length plank look that’s perfect for contemporary settings. You have two great choices with Lineo: for convenience and fast installation, you can choose the Unilock Moda pre-built fireplace (which also features the Series accent), or you can install Lineo stone on a completely custom fireplace. The Lineo line looks especially stunning on three-sided fireplaces. It can also visually lighten the appearance of a very tall or wide fireplace.
The Warmth of Sandstone
If you love the more substantial blocky appearance of hewn stone—reminiscent of European castles or Mediterranean villas—you will love a custom fireplace made with Unilock Estate Wall. The rough texture and warm colors make this the perfect addition to a traditional or country setting. If you don’t want a custom fireplace, you can achieve the look you want with two pre-built fireplaces by Unilock featuring stones similar in appearance to the Estate Wall: the Tuscany (Brussels Dimensional Stone with traditional brick-look Copthorne accents) and the Barcelona (Brussels Dimensional Stone with a curved-face fire box and the granite look of Umbriano accents).
The Texture of Flagstone
Finally, for perhaps the most natural look of all—the wonderfully textured look of stacked flagstone—can be achieved by using Unilock Rivercrest Wall. This stone comes in a wide variety of shapes to make the most unique artistic fireplace visions come to life—or you can choose the Bella pre-built fireplace.
Related Read: How To Make Your Outdoor Fireplace the Center of Attention
Design Options
Most outdoor fireplaces aren’t constructed to stand alone in the middle of a patio. This means plenty of opportunity to customize even a pre-built fireplace! For instance, you could carry the same stone throughout your hardscape in retaining walls, seating walls, pillars, columns, kitchen veneer, or even patio accents for a lovely unified look.
Add custom features such as firewood storage, and build a custom hearth. The hearth is the perfect opportunity to create a custom look, whether you want a deep hearth where you can snuggle by the fire on a chilly evening, or a sleek minimalist hearth that appears to “float” above the patio. Or connect your fireplace to a water feature and a seating wall (for extra wow factor) or make it part of an outdoor kitchen where it will become the heart of your outdoor living area.
These modern solutions from Unilock are inspired by natural stone, while offering greater flexibility in design at a lower cost, as well as the durability and beauty you’d expect from natural stone.
The title image features Rivercrest Wall for the outdoor fireplace and stone seating, while Beacon Hill Flagstone pavers and Copthorne paving borders form the patio flooring.
