Feb
08
It’s only been in about the last week or so that we have gotten around to using our fireplace at home this winter. Sad I know; but here in Mississippi it doesn’t always get cold enough to use them. We have had more cold weather this year, cold for the South so I’ve felt more like building a fire. One of the reasons I don’t use my fireplace more often is that it takes a lot of work for me to get it going! Clean out all the ashes, find something to use for kindling, get everything put in, hope the wood is dry enough, keep piling logs on, etc. I love the idea of having a fire going, the look of the room with it and the crackling sounds it makes but I don’t like the effort that goes into it! I want a “push button” fireplace! Well, that’s what I call them anyway! I seem to know a lot of people that have those and it just seems so easy to go push a button and have a fire come on, what a great invention! I asked Don once about taking ours out because we weren’t using it but he thought it would be too costly to do because it goes up to the second story and there would be walls to tear out; maybe I should have asked if we could convert it to gas! But since we don’t have gas anything in the house I think that would be costly too. I think I’ll get a fire going here this afternoon, just got to psych myself up for it!
Stacy (sis) does questions of the day a lot so I’m “borrowing” this idea from her……I want to know about your fireplaces: Do you have one and use it, how often? And the big question, is yours gas or wood burning?
Anyone one else besides me think wood burning is a lot of work?
I’m off to get mine going!
February 8th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Ooh, there you go, stealing my ideas! Good thing I haven’t used this one yet, LOL!
We have a fireplace but don’t use it much. I didn’t make many when it was wood, because of all of the trouble and the mess. Tim installed our gas logs (ours was already plumbed for it) not too long after we got married, so we have the instant kind. It’s nice, but I feel like all of the heat goes up the chimney and it’s really just for looks. I like having it though, but yours is much nicer. Bigger and when you get a fire going in it, it really puts out a lot of heat. A lot of work though, so I probably wouldn’t do it often unless the whole crew was home, if I were you.
Great question!
February 8th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Hi Gail,
Thanks for stopping by. Next time you are in Houston. Please let me know. maybe we could meet. I would love to make you a cup of tea and visit. I am making tea towels right now. I have an online sewing group and we are doing a swap. I would love for you to join.
Hugs,
Elizabeth
February 8th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
We have a pretty fireplace with glass doors. We’ve never used it. Dom refuses to light a fire unless we need it to heat the house if all the power goes out. Right now I have candles sitting inside. But I can’t light them because Dom has black electrical tape all around the edges of the glass doors. He’s afraid that a tiny bit of air will get through the doors. He’s a fanatic about energy and heat loss! Oh well, the glass doors look nice!
February 8th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Funny post. Back in 2000, we took a trip to Amish country and my husband got it in his head to buy a wood stove. We actually found one in the Pennysaver for $400 – would have been like $2500 new. Took us 3 years to finish our gameroom but we do enjoy the woodstove. Last weekend when it was hovering around 0 here, we hardly had the furnace on at all. I will not go out and get wood, but I will feed it and keep it going if I have to. It’s not that bad. Of course, that means I am a wood widow. I swear wood is always on my husbands mind – finding, chopping, loading, splitting, stacking! I think he’s a pyromaniac at heart!
February 8th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
We have a gas fireplace, but we never used it. So, we put a wall over it. Gives us more wall place in our living room.
February 8th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Gail, I admit it is a lot of work to rustle up a nice fire in the fireplace, but oh how beautiful and romantic it can be. I miss the glow, the ambiance, and the warm atmosphere it provides. We sadly wouldn’t be able to use one here in Florida much as it is just not cold enough!
February 8th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
I don’t have one in my apartment but our old house in Clinton (boo hoo) had a gas fireplace that we used quite a bit. My parents’ new house has one but I don’t know what kind it is…Maybe real b/c mama hasn’t mentioned using it and I KNOW it’s colder up there…they got SNOW!
February 9th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
We have gas, but just for the fireplace. We use a propane tank outside just like the one on our grill. We live in the south too and only use it several times a year- so the propane tank works fine. My husband just unhooks the one from the grill and attaches it to the pipes that come out of the chimney. Great question! Have a great weekend.
February 10th, 2007 at 10:01 am
We use our fireplace insert almost every day! But hubby is much better at getting it started than I am, and he’s up first, so always starts in and leaves me to keep it going all day. It’s really nice…except by Spring, I notice all the soot clinging to walls- major spring cleaning for us soon!
February 10th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
You are the first Gail I have seen since I started blogging a few months ago. I saw your comment on “daily blessings” We live in north Florida in an older house, it had a wood burning fireplace but we converted it to gas and we use it a lot and really enjoy it. Stop on by my blog. Nice to meet you.
February 10th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
we have two fireplaces, one on the main level in the den, tv room, and the other in the basement, which we don’t use, esp. in the winter cause it’s so cold. I love a fire, am a pyro, but don’t mess with the wood thing, mess……..and usually am not home long enuf to enjoy a fire………but one day……..
February 11th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
I dont have one. My parents has gas logs though and they use it alot……we live in Ky where the high lately has only been 20.
February 12th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Could have used a fireplace this morning. Our furnace quit and it was 1 degree here and snowing. The house went down to 64 before the gas man came out to fix it. Brrr!
February 14th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
We lived in a house with a gas fireplace for four and a half years and only used the fireplace two or three times. Then, we moved in this house, which has a wood fireplace, and we use it all the time. My husband loves to chop the wood from the trees that fall on our property during storms. He loves to build the fire and he is constantly adjusting, stirring, whatever! (We use Starter Log*gs and Starter Stik*ks from Low*es to make it easier).
February 15th, 2007 at 7:02 am
We have a gas fireplace – I LOVED it when we lived in town. But out here, we can’t get natural gas, so we have to convert to propane to use it. We tried a onversion, but it didn’t work, so the only way to do it is to buy a whole new insert. What a rip off! One of these days I’ll break down and do it though, I love a fire in the fireplace. I wish we had one of the old ones here in the house. This house is 200 years old, so there must have been one at some point!