The comfort of a fireplace

[FreddieVonRost]

Winter is almost upon us here in England and the weather is definitely getting worse. Time to light the fire, sit close by with a stiff drink and listen to the the sounds of snap, crackle and pop.

Apologies for the quality of the image. Taken with my phone camera as the ixus is being tres difficile!

 

[DancingSweetie]

I love a fire, I''m lucky to have a fireplace in my apartment.

 

[scotrace]

Now

There's a roaring fire going in mine right now. Wonderful!

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

You guys all suck!

I wish I had a fireplace in my apartment!

 

[Harp]

Hearth

All I need now is a glass of brandy!

 

[Rosie]

I'm too afraid to use my fireplaces.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Nice and comfy

I have a beautiful, unusable one from the 1920s. I store some of my many record albums in it. The stiff drink sounds good, though. Plugging in the space heater, ah. The sound of pugs snoring takes the place of snap, crackle and pop.

 

[Mr. Rover]

Ahh...this makes me miss suburban New York more and more. I had a dream about snow last night and woke up to 80 degrees and sunny in Taipei, Taiwan. I miss playing in the snow and then warming up next to a fire with hot cocoa.

 

[flat-top]

I have an extremely old cast iron stove in my living room (doesn't quite go with my mid 50's decor, but oh well), that I plan on using this year after not needing it for the past few winters. Weather permitting, of course!

 

[scotrace]

The sound of pugs snoring takes the place of snap, crackle and pop.

I got your snoring!

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Go, Bulldogs!

 

[olive bleu]

December 31st, I am moving into a house with a fireplace...just in time to ring in the new year in front of a roaring fire with our yellow lab at my feet, the cat on my lap and a warming, single-malt scotch in my hand

 

[Mojito]

We have a fireplace set into a sandstone wall...hasn't been lit in years, though, I'm afraid. Probably have possums living in the chimney.

A lovely big fireplace with a (vintage! Not recent!) fur in front of it...

As the old rhyme has it:

Would you like to sin
With Elinor Glyn
On a tiger skin?
Or would you prefer
To err with her
On some other fur?

 

[Sunny]

I love wood fires. We maintain a healthy woodpile every year. Alas, last Christmas it was too warm for a fire on all but a few days; it was in the 60s (Fahrenheit) much of the time. We tried, but when you're wearing jeans and a t-shirt and six feet away is still too close, it's time to give in. I hope this winter will be cooler.

I love the smell of the smoke, too. Ever since I was little, I thought woodsmoke smelled like spicy green olives. I love green olives.

Yesterday was brilliantly sunny with highs in the 60s, but someone to our south maintained a fire all day. Maybe they had their doors open, to keep it from overheating inside. Or maybe their flue was stuck closed.

 

[Willi_Goat]

Unfortunately I have not had a fireplace in the house for about three years now. I miss that one. My wife and I have made that a mandatory item when we buy or build though.

 

[Viola]

I'm thinking of buying a gel fireplace. Looks classic, beats a space-heater all to heck, and I can take it with me when I move.

Viola

 

[Big Man]

I love an open fire. I have very fond memories of playing in front of the fireplace at my Grandmother's house as a child. I also liked to play in the fire (but that's another story, and probably contributed to my becoming a firefighter). The only heat in my Grandmother's house was from a fireplace. It was a small coal burning fireplace, that gave off very good heat.

When I built my house, a fireplace and a wood stove were the only heat sources for a number of years. I especially enjoy sitting in front of our rather large "cooking fireplace". The picture isn't too good, but you can kind of get the idea of the size. the firebox is approximately five feet wide, four feet tall, and three feet deep. Each winter we usually have two or three winter storms where the power is off for a day or so, and with the fireplaces it is no problem to keep warm and cook a good meal.

 

[scotrace]

I also liked to play in the fire (but that's another story, and probably contributed to my becoming a firefighter).

I can hear the scoutmasters still: "get out of that fire! You'll wet your bed!"


Now that is a fireplace.

 

[indyjim]

We had a very nice fireplace in our first house and while the ambiance was nice, it did nothing to warm any other room except the living room. It pulled a great deal of air through the house, keeping the other rooms too cool. When we built our present home, I had a woodburner installed. It has a glass front, so we still get the beauty of the flames but it is functional enough to heat a 3,000 sq. ft. house. The living room and my office are the two most remote rooms from the wood burner and they stay about 68 degrees on the coldest days. The other rooms are a toasty 72+ and, due to the open floor plan and the balcony, the upstairs is even warmer. In fact, we have windows open all winter long upstairs.
But, my gas bills are only about $80.00 a month in the winter, mostly from heating water. Wood is free, so I'll live with the open windows any day. Besides, wood warms twice. Once when you cut it and once when you burn it.lol

 

[Nashoba]

I adore fireplaces. That was the one thing I insisted that we had when we were looking for a house. When we built ours we couldn't afford the woodburning (they wanted to add a ridiculous amount to the cost of the house for it) so we opted for a gas fireplace. The thing puts out so much heat that it will heat our entire house which saves us quite a bit on the electric bill. The dog loves it. He'll sleep smakc dab in front of it for hours, lazy mutt