• Set the pit on a non-combustible surface with a clear radius.
• Choose a fuel you will actually use — wood for ritual, gas for weeknights.
• Avoid highly resinous planting nearby; think stone, gravel and clipped evergreens.
• Add a throw basket and a low table. Comfort is what makes people stay.

After dark, the fire is the garden. Everything else is only a backdrop.

— Elise Maren

If space is tight, a fire bowl on a small terrace can be enough. What matters is the gathering, not the diameter of the ring.

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