I thought I had already blogged about our fireplace, but I guess I haven't. Our house was brand new when we bought it, and as you can see below, logs in the gas fireplace were apparently not a standard option! If you can tell from the photo, our fireplace is double-sided, and open to two rooms- the living room on this side, and the sun room on the other.
So of course we just couldn't run down to Lowe's and pick up a box of logs off the shelf. We had to have everything measured and custom made. We ended up going to a fireplace dealer way over in Stockbridge, who ordered the logs and then sent someone to install them. They actually don't look too bad.
In the evening, with the lights low, it actually looks like a real wood fire, with glowing embers underneath. And oddly enough, they actually make a popping and crackling sound that is realistic too. Because it's open on both sides, it doesn't give off a tremendous amount of heat, but it still gives me that warm and cozy feeling a fireplace is supposed to.
I do miss the smell of burning wood though, although my asthma doesn't miss the smoke. In my parents home, and in my very first home in Rock Hill, we had wood-burning fireplaces. James always had a wood fireplace as well in his homes (Hairy below, in his old apartment when we were dating). It's just hard to keep up with a woodpile, splitting it, bringing it inside on a cold morning.
When we bought our last house in Rock Hill, it had two fireplaces. One gas, one wood. I have to admit that, even though we had a big stack of wood ready to go outside, I think we only used the wood fireplace twice. We quickly found we enjoyed the convenience of pushing a button for the gas fireplace instead. As you can see below, the cats didn't seem to mind it wasn't a "real" fire.
Now that the new logs are in at the new house, it didn't take long for the cats to rediscover the joys of sleeping by the hearth. And with it being double-sided, there's more fire for the cats to enjoy. Last night three were sleeping on one side in the living room, while the other two were huddled next to it in the sun room. Here's Romeo just last night, relaxing. And I think from this photo, you can't tell those are fake logs at all. And I don't think the cats seem to mind one bit!
So of course we just couldn't run down to Lowe's and pick up a box of logs off the shelf. We had to have everything measured and custom made. We ended up going to a fireplace dealer way over in Stockbridge, who ordered the logs and then sent someone to install them. They actually don't look too bad.
In the evening, with the lights low, it actually looks like a real wood fire, with glowing embers underneath. And oddly enough, they actually make a popping and crackling sound that is realistic too. Because it's open on both sides, it doesn't give off a tremendous amount of heat, but it still gives me that warm and cozy feeling a fireplace is supposed to.
I do miss the smell of burning wood though, although my asthma doesn't miss the smoke. In my parents home, and in my very first home in Rock Hill, we had wood-burning fireplaces. James always had a wood fireplace as well in his homes (Hairy below, in his old apartment when we were dating). It's just hard to keep up with a woodpile, splitting it, bringing it inside on a cold morning.
When we bought our last house in Rock Hill, it had two fireplaces. One gas, one wood. I have to admit that, even though we had a big stack of wood ready to go outside, I think we only used the wood fireplace twice. We quickly found we enjoyed the convenience of pushing a button for the gas fireplace instead. As you can see below, the cats didn't seem to mind it wasn't a "real" fire.
Now that the new logs are in at the new house, it didn't take long for the cats to rediscover the joys of sleeping by the hearth. And with it being double-sided, there's more fire for the cats to enjoy. Last night three were sleeping on one side in the living room, while the other two were huddled next to it in the sun room. Here's Romeo just last night, relaxing. And I think from this photo, you can't tell those are fake logs at all. And I don't think the cats seem to mind one bit!
Those cats seem soooooo content!!! Lucky little fur friends!
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