This Building Material Was Everywhere In The '70s - Now It's Popping Up In Gardens

It's true that, in general, building materials haven't changed all that much in the last couple of centuries; it's really just that improvements have been made in how the different materials are manufactured and how they're being used. Take bricks, for example. Initially, they were handmade from clay, but then, around the late 19th century, they started being made by machine. This allowed for increased production, and resulted in them being a popular building material that was seen everywhere in the 1970s. Not only were bricks used to clad homes, but they were also popular inside as exposed feature walls and to frame fireplaces. It's no wonder then that bricks are also popping up in gardens and being used in a variety of ways, from creating garden beds and planters, to building entire outdoor kitchens.

While it's easy to transform scrap wood into useful garden pieces, bricks are a low-maintenance building material that doesn't easily crumble, warp, or disintegrate. For this reason, there are plenty of options to find second-hand bricks from demolition yards that are perfect for use around the yard. Apart from that, bricks are made from natural materials, so they fit in really well with the rise of biophilic design. You'll also find that modern brick manufacturers are seeing the advantage of using bricks in landscapes, and so they're touting bricks as the perfect material to create paths, walkways, and even retaining walls.

Using brick in the garden has no limits to what you can do or build. There's also an almost endless variety of different styles, textures, and colors available, depending on your budget, so the possibilities to elevate your outdoor areas are almost endless. In fact, they're most likely only limited by your imagination or the ideas you can glean from others. Apart from the obvious, like hardscaping your garden with modular brick pathways or using recycled bricks as a robust edging for garden beds, they can also be used to construct made-to-measure raised garden beds. For higher raised beds or retaining walls, you might even want to utilize serpentine or wavy walls , which have been very popular in the United Kingdom for many years, and which create an interesting and unique aesthetic.

Bricks are also a useful building material to create functional spaces within your outdoor living areas. For instance, brick structures can be built to house your barbecue or even a pizza oven. Bricks are really good at heat retention, so they're perfect for this purpose. They can also provide divided spaces in the form of low walls that separate seating areas from cooking spaces. You could even take this one step further and create seating or benches along these walls using bricks, too. Or, if you've always dreamed of a fire pit, you can easily use bricks to build one. Just make sure you buy heat-resistant or fire-rated ones for this project. Finally, there are plenty of ways to repurpose old pavers in your yard, but these would also work well using recycled brick materials.