The Hearth of the Home
Hi everyone!
We’re moving inside the house now with blog posts! While it’s still a little chilly here in Niagara-on-the-Lake, I thought I’d start with one of my favourite features in the house - the fireplaces! Since most of the house is open concept, the fireplaces really help give the house the farmhouse feel I had dreamed about. We have two - one in the living room (of course!) and one - and this is a game changer - in the kitchen!
Gas Fireplace
Let’s start with the kitchen. The fireplace we added is actually brand new! This was one of the best decisions we made with the renovation. When we were designing the house, we had an empty space between the staircase and front entrance that really needed something fabulous. Enter the fireplace! We went with a gas fireplace that’s vented out. There were a few key elements to consider for this specific fireplace:
Design: You can TOTALLY spruce up a gas fireplace. We built the surround to not only match the rest of the house, but also to look like it was always here and not brand new. I chose an aged style brick from a Canadian company called StoneRox called Sacramento Rustic. What they are is a thin brick veneer, so it won’t stick out too much from your wall. My biggest tip is to buy more boxes than you need, since each individual piece will vary, and be really picky in choosing which bricks you want to use. For this fireplace, I chose once that had more of the aged treatment on them.
Venting: One of the pros of a gas fireplace is that it’s not as expensive as putting in a wood-burning, full mason fireplace, and you can put it in almost anywhere in the home. What you need to make sure you have is proper venting. The heat needs to go somewhere! If you notice, there’s a bit of a bump at the top of the fireplace that holds our vent, but we easily made it look like it was part of the design! It goes straight up through the roof in our case, since there isn't a bedroom above. So before you get TOO excited about installing a gas fireplace - make sure you can vent it!
Safety: You may require a protective screen on one side of the glass. This WILL dim the look of the fire flame a bit, but since most gas fireplaces actually get quite hot, this screen is needed - especially if you have any pets or kiddos in the house.
Heat: You also need to be aware of the BTUs of the fireplace you’re looking at. Some gas fireplaces can heat a whole room, some the whole house! If you’re not looking for that kind of heat, you may find yourself having to turn it off before you want to because it’s getting too warm inside, so definitely research this aspect before buying!
Gas Log Fireplace
Our living room fireplace is something REALLY special that I didn’t even know was possible until I came across it! It was originally a wood burning fireplace, which is lovely but too much maintenance for us! I wanted something that still made the space feel cozy but was easier to use.
I was over the moon to discover a gas log set. IF you have an existing mason fireplace, you can install a gas log set without the need for a glass covering! We got the Split Oak Designer Plus log set from Real Fyre. It even turns on and off with the click of a button - how cool is that? So, this isn’t the option for someone looking for a brand new fireplace, but perfect for anyone who isn’t fussy on their existing wood burning one and still wants the cozy feel!
It lets off as much heat as a wood burning fireplace would, but it’s not quite as efficient as the radiant heat style, like we have in the kitchen. This style is all about the cozy!
You do have to keep the flute open a smidge so the gas can exit - make sure you work closely with the professionals so you don’t miss any important steps like this one!
We also took down the old fireplace façade and re-built it to make room for the TV above, and made it wider so it makes more of a statement in the room. I worked with StoneRox for this fireplace as well, and combined two different stone colours (Arctic Frost and Loyalist Grey) to get the PERFECT look I was wanting. Can you believe it’s not “real”??
More house content coming to you very soon! I hope you’re enjoying reading all the special details of our Niagara-on-the-Lake renovation!
This post is in partnership with StoneRox and Real Fyre. All of the views and opinions expressed here are my own.