Hot Stuff

When HandyMan and I were looking for a new house, one of our "must haves" was a fireplace. HandyMan had a wood-burning fireplace in his condo and I learned to appreciate the luxury it truly was... crackling logs, bright flames that glittered off the sparkly tile surround, cozy warmth in the wintertime. Okay, maybe it wasn't that warm (did you know wood-burning fireplaces are the least heat efficient?), but it sure was pretty. And therein lies the problem... I wanted a fireplace that was both functional and pretty.

Like everything in our new old house, the fireplace was - well, not so pretty. I knew it would only be a matter of time before we would tear it out and having decided to refinish the floors before we moved in, that time came sooner than expected. So now it is 4 months later and I sit with a hole in my ceiling, ruined plaster, and torn wallpaper where my fireplace once stood. What to replace it with? Here's a few looks I like:






Sources: www.ecosmartfire.com, www.conmoto.com

Yes, I do realize that an open fire is impractical, and that I only have 40" of wall to work with - but a girl can dream, can't she? We'll be making use of the existing chimney and don't want to use up any more floor space than we have to, so a narrow, zero clearance, gas fireplace is what we're looking for. The folks at Easyfire have some interesting fire ribbon units which fit our criteria perfectly. But with many other things on the list and a relatively mild winter, there's not much pushing us to get this project off the ground. The toasted marshmellows will have to wait.