Choosing the right outdoor fireplace 'body' is the start of your choices for your dream outdoor fireplace. This creates the main shape for your fireplace and can help dictate which finishing touches can be added. But the thing most people care about is the finishes.
Some fireplace finishes are available directly from Trendz Outdoors, meaning your fireplace arrives almost ready to go. Others require a specialist to help get that perfect look. In this article, we'll look at which options are available from our factory, and which you'll need to sort once the fireplace is in position.
Body style examples. From L to R: Douglas, Hudson, Burton & Mini Burton
Bare concrete
This is an incredibly trendy style choice, which is incredibly popular at the moment. By leaving the body of the outdoor fireplace bare it can offer an industrial look to your outdoor area. Every Trendz fireplace is delivered as a concrete shell, meaning that you can add your finishing touches to complete your outdoor area look.
The concrete itself will need to be sealed to protect it from the elements but other than that the design will look as it arrives.
Plastered and paint
This style is one of the most conventional. The Burton and Mini Burton outdoor fireplace can be delivered already plastered and painted, simply let your Trendz Outdoors specialist know the colour you're after and they can work on sourcing the colour and once the plaster is applied. The other fireplaces will need to be plastered and painted once it has arrived at its final location.
The plaster helps protect the fireplace from the elements while the paint colour is a license to personalise! Many people choose to colour match their fireplace with their house or an important outdoor feature. Others try to get the fireplace to blend into its surroundings. Whatever you like your fireplace can be delivered rendered and painted to your specifications.
Schist/stone cladding
This is where we start heading into the realm of professional assistance. Most cladding options will require a specialist to apply the finish once the fireplace is in situ. In many cases, the proper application of stone or technical coverings is best done by a professional. Not only will they be able to do a great job but the risk of damaging the fireplace in transit with this sort of cladding pre-applied is too high.
If you're not planning on doing this yourself then your Trendz Outdoors specialist can recommend a local tradesperson for you. After many years of helping people get the perfect finish on their Trendz fireplace, they know all the right people for the job.
In this case, the Trendz fireplace will arrive as a bare concrete body and the stonemason, or fabricator will build the cladding from there. The same can be said for the chimney you see in the above photo, this was welded and built into the schist on site.
Mixed media
Every so often the finish on an outdoor fireplace simply isn't enough. In the example below both river stone and render have been applied to this fireplace, to great effect. Even the chimney has received a unique finish to add to the personality of this fireplace, not to mention the wooden topper.
In this example, it's sometimes best to have all of the mixed pieces done at the same time. This enables the finish to be spot on with your vision. If you can't find the perfect tradesperson for the job please speak to your Trendz Outdoors specialist as they may be able to point you in the right direction.
Embed or feature wall
These are some of the most complicated projects but often yield exceptional results. The home in the image below was a massive award-winning project that used a Trendz Burton outdoor fireplace's body and built it into the wall with an extended chimney.
With projects like this, any shape can be achieved by using one of our designs. The Burton gives the largest fireplace feature with the Douglas and Hudson giving a large to medium size look and the Mini Burton the smallest scale of our range.
In this example either a bare concrete body can be delivered with a firebox shipped for installation by a building professional.
Short wall
This is usually a smaller project than embedding the outdoor fireplace in a feature wall. In many cases, this is simply a full fireplace body that is built into a low wall, a job that can be handled by many DIYers.
To see a full range of ideas for your fireplace look check out our gallery or download our product catalogue by clicking below.
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