A couple of years ago our friend's Lance and Rachael's washing machine went out. They went and got a new one, but Lance did something ingenious with the old one. He took the drum out and turned it into a fire pit!
You can see it on the left. The base of the fire pit is this big iron pot so the drum sits up higher. It's been so amazing whenever we've gone to their house. The drum just radiates heat from all those holes that were meant for water! Plus when you let the fire burn down to coals you can rest your roasting sticks on the side. I love it!!!
We were just waiting to see a broken down washing machine sitting on the side of the road so we could make ourselves a new fire pit. Then a few weeks later we were at my parents house and my mom told me that her washing machine broke down and they were getting new ones delivered on Tuesday. The funny thing was....I didn't even think about asking them for the drum. But then Michael showed up and when he heard about it he immediately said that we should ask if Mom and Dad would be okay if we tore their washing machine apart to get the drum. Mom and Dad were fine with that, but we didn't have time that night because we were having dinner with friends at their house in just about an hour.
So the very next day after church we went down to Mom & Dad's and tore the washing machine apart. I wish I had gotten pictures of that process. It was crazy how many parts are contained inside a washing machine. It was nuts! After Michael and Dad got the drum out they just put everything back in the washing machine and taped it all together. The delivery guys were coming on Tuesday with the new machines and then they'd take away the old ones.
When we got home on Sunday Michael got right to work turning the drum into our new fire pit!
It didn't take him a ton of time, but it also wasn't this super easy task. He decided to use the existing stand from our old fire pit and he bolted the new drum to it.
It's actually SO pretty!!!
Preparing the fire!
All ready to go....let's get lit!!!!!
This was always the most frustrating part of having a backyard fire in our old fire pit. The fire would take FOREVER to start....NOT ANYMORE!!!
There is SO much airflow into this bad boy that it just started right up! It was raging in no time!
It was almost like there was a fan on the bottom and the flames were just being forced up. It was so cool! And no the slide does not go right into the flames! :) :) :)
Fire is so beautiful!
I will say that ours isn't as hot as Lance and Rachael's...ours has a lot more holes since it's a newer drum, but still it's way more awesome that our old fire pit. Around twilight our neighbor came over to talk with us and while we were standing at the fence with him I looked back at the pit and saw all that fire through the little holes on the side and it was so gorgeous! Next time I'll take a picture!
Anyways if your washing machine breaks down or you see one for free on the side of the road be sure to scoop that thing up and turn it into an awesome fire pit!
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