Sand and Fire Pit DIY

A few weeks ago my AMAZING husband built me a beautiful sand pit which included a home made fire pit to go with it!  I'm so excited and we have been using it so much, and I can't wait to use it throughout the summer.  Isabella is so excited about it, her favorite activity now is digging in the sand, and she's talking non stop about making smore's!!!!  So here is what you need and what you need to do:

Materials

Sand: The amount of sand you need depends on the size of the pit you're making.

for ours we used about two truck loads of sand!

Weed liner:  This you need to make sure that weeds don't grow up through your sand. 

Cement wall bricks:  We got these at our local home improvement store. Again the number needed depends on the size of the fire pit you're making, ours took 33 bricks.

A shovel and wheelbarrow:  You need these to help move the sand and dirt, you would ideally use a tractor so you don't kill your back.

This is the area that we used.  We have a large backyard, and I've always dreamed of a sand pit by the patio.

Step 1: You first need to clear all of the old dirt and weeds or whatever you have out of the area.  My hubby dug down about 2-3 inches, which equaled A LOT of dirt.

 

At firs my hubby was using the shovel and wheelbarrow, but once he realized how much dirt he was going to be removing he switched to the small tractor and cart, he said that made it WAY easier.

Step 2:  Once all the dirt was removed, you then lay down the weed liner.  You need to make sure that EVERY INCH of the area you are going to cover in sand is lined.  You don't want to have weeds growing through your sand because it would be very difficult to get rid of them.

Step 3: Add in the sand!  Like I said the amount that you need depends on the size of the area you are doing.  I suggest measuring the area and then going to the sand/gravel supply and giving him those measurements.

You can see the liner under the sand here, and a special thanks to one of my hubby's buddies for giving up his Saturday.

Step 4: Build your fire pit. Unfortunately my husband didn't get any pictures of this step but basically what he did is made a circle with some of the bricks.  Once he got the overall circumference that he wanted he stacked the rest of the bricks.  He didn't use cement or anything and they are staying very nicely.  At this moment we are using wood to fuel the fire, however we do have plans of connecting the fire pit to the natural gas line.  When we do that I'll do another tutorial.

Here is the finished fire pit, and my amazing husband.

Step 5: Add furniture!  We again go ours at a local home improvement store.

Here is the finished sand and fire pit!  We put four tiki torches (one at each corner) in it to add to the ambiance and it's really nice and very helpful in keeping the mosquitos and other bugs away.

Well, that's how my hubby made our new beautiful sand and fire pit! Let me know if you've done anything similar and any ways we could make it better! Also, if you have any advice on converting the fire pit to natural gas, please let me know!!