RichPB (richlife)
TVWBB Wizard
I enjoy seeing some of the setups and environments folks here have for their grilling/smoking, so wanted to share my new space. We moved from 10.6 acres in the woods with 2600 sq feet of deck/porch (my space was on a large covered porch) to a townhouse 8 miles away with 0.6 acres and 588 sq feet of patio/gravel "yard". In some ways I miss my old space, but have worked hard to make this new area comfortable for grilling/smoking. Got the last of the updates done last Saturday. Pics below.
Part of what we did was to update doors to the rear area including changing a large window in the kitchen to a door into the 8'x11' "utility" courtyard. The back area also has a 10'x15' brick patio outside a sunroom with a pathway over to the courtyard. That path was almost blocked by a huge access door (which I reduced by 1/3) to the crawlspace entry -- that's the sloped panel shown in the pics. All the back area except patio and path were basically mud and a strip of grass when we moved in. We have extended the brick around the crawlspace door, somewhat leveled and graveled over the mud and grass so that the whole yard is now fenced with brick or gravel. [I've had lots of fun with the HOA and have gained a bit of a "reputation". They liked and finally have approved (some after the fact) what I've done, but objected to almost everything on "principal" (rules).]
These first pics show the courtyard -- first from the new kitchen door out then back from the pathway in front of the grill.
I just completed a refinishing of the black walnut grill cabinet which faces the grill. You can see it on posts at the house end of the privacy fence we installed. This cabinet hung on the wall of the porch in a similar position in the grill deck of our previous house. I can simply turn from the grill to access accessories/supplies that won't fit within the grill cabinets. I made the cabinet for my grill space about 12 years ago using all wood joinery, no hardware except hinges. You may be able to see the through tenons on the sides. Sliding dovetails hold partition and shelving together. The roof is walnut "shingles". Because it's no longer covered, I decided to add a plexiglas cover to the roof -- working well. This is all on the south side of the house, so lots of weathering going on here. A/C is on one side of the courtyard, utility entries are behind the storage box. We keep Sheila's Q beside my Genesis to stay away from house walls.
When open, the umbrella shades the entire grill (it's HOT here in summer) and my seat/work area as well as allowing me to grill and smoke in rainy weather. So about 200 sq feet of our space is mostly committed to the grill area shown here.
From my seat at the grill, I look along the larger part of the back yard to the patio. On the right from there is a small potted garden we brought from our previous home. (I almost wrote "pot garden", but that would be very illegal in conservative, short-sighted NC).
Looking back from the patio, you see the grill area and "garden" on the left.
While we live in a townhouse community of 200+ units within the larger Fearrington Village complex (2100+ homes), you can see the our back area is well sheltered by surrounding shrubs and trees. What we see back here is mostly green with very little visibility to/from other homes. Coming from 30 years in an old forest environment, this was a special find for us. Even with the small space, I'm quite content, happy and private for grilling and relaxation. I'm sitting on the patio writing this. 85* now at 11:00am heading for 93* later on. Hot spell coming -- makes it nice to have a fan that can be pointed in the direction I'm sitting...
This pic gives an idea of the space around the patio.
Part of what we did was to update doors to the rear area including changing a large window in the kitchen to a door into the 8'x11' "utility" courtyard. The back area also has a 10'x15' brick patio outside a sunroom with a pathway over to the courtyard. That path was almost blocked by a huge access door (which I reduced by 1/3) to the crawlspace entry -- that's the sloped panel shown in the pics. All the back area except patio and path were basically mud and a strip of grass when we moved in. We have extended the brick around the crawlspace door, somewhat leveled and graveled over the mud and grass so that the whole yard is now fenced with brick or gravel. [I've had lots of fun with the HOA and have gained a bit of a "reputation". They liked and finally have approved (some after the fact) what I've done, but objected to almost everything on "principal" (rules).]
These first pics show the courtyard -- first from the new kitchen door out then back from the pathway in front of the grill.
I just completed a refinishing of the black walnut grill cabinet which faces the grill. You can see it on posts at the house end of the privacy fence we installed. This cabinet hung on the wall of the porch in a similar position in the grill deck of our previous house. I can simply turn from the grill to access accessories/supplies that won't fit within the grill cabinets. I made the cabinet for my grill space about 12 years ago using all wood joinery, no hardware except hinges. You may be able to see the through tenons on the sides. Sliding dovetails hold partition and shelving together. The roof is walnut "shingles". Because it's no longer covered, I decided to add a plexiglas cover to the roof -- working well. This is all on the south side of the house, so lots of weathering going on here. A/C is on one side of the courtyard, utility entries are behind the storage box. We keep Sheila's Q beside my Genesis to stay away from house walls.
When open, the umbrella shades the entire grill (it's HOT here in summer) and my seat/work area as well as allowing me to grill and smoke in rainy weather. So about 200 sq feet of our space is mostly committed to the grill area shown here.
From my seat at the grill, I look along the larger part of the back yard to the patio. On the right from there is a small potted garden we brought from our previous home. (I almost wrote "pot garden", but that would be very illegal in conservative, short-sighted NC).
Looking back from the patio, you see the grill area and "garden" on the left.
While we live in a townhouse community of 200+ units within the larger Fearrington Village complex (2100+ homes), you can see the our back area is well sheltered by surrounding shrubs and trees. What we see back here is mostly green with very little visibility to/from other homes. Coming from 30 years in an old forest environment, this was a special find for us. Even with the small space, I'm quite content, happy and private for grilling and relaxation. I'm sitting on the patio writing this. 85* now at 11:00am heading for 93* later on. Hot spell coming -- makes it nice to have a fan that can be pointed in the direction I'm sitting...
This pic gives an idea of the space around the patio.
And frankly I have to add that moving from 20 miles (30 minutes) to anywhere to convenience just down the road a bit has been really nice. And believe it or not, it's actually quieter here and darker at night than where we were. THAT was shocking!
