A cedar pergola and fire pit in high-format stone

A large, plain rectangle of yard with no shade and no reason to walk into it. The owners wanted somewhere to eat outside that did not bake from noon onward.

The patio is laid in high-format pavers, whose larger units suit the scale of the space and keep the joint lines calm rather than busy. A gas fire pit is set directly into the field of paving toward the garden end, so the seating arrangement has somewhere to point.

The cedar pergola is built on site rather than bought in a kit, with posts set on footings and beams sized for the span. It throws real shade over the table through the afternoon and gives the patio a roofline to sit under.