Fireplaces can add warmth and visual interest to your living room
By Karla Hollencamp
Dreading the thought of a long, cold, gray winter stuck inside? Consider adding a fireplace to put a little hearth in your home, for the holidays and the whole season.
Abundant choices at a wide range of prices are available at local hardware stores and companies like Dayton Fireplace systems.
You don’t need a chimney flue or even a wall opening for some of them. Electric fireplaces can hang on the wall like a TV and gas inserts can be ventless to recreate a warm gathering-round spot in an old unused fireplace.
More people are also choosing outdoor fireplaces or simple fire rings to provide an antidote to gloom.
For immediate gratification, pull up a YouTube clip on your Smart TV that features a beautiful picture of a fireplace and the sounds of a crackling fire as your electronic hearth. Light a woodsy candle to complete the scene.
“We just happen to have three gas fireplaces,” says interior designer Jeanne Behm of her own home, “in the family room, the living room and one in the lower level game room. We turn on the fireplaces, light some candles, maybe a cocktail and I really feel calm and happy.”
