I have a decision to make about a fireplace

Morning!

Thanks for all your votes, emails and comments about the floorboards yesterday. The jury is still out, but we may have narrowed it (husband has gone off the dark boards – hallelujah!). I think I need to see some real samples now in the driftwood, smoked and black and classic walnut (I still also like smoked and limed)… I’ll keep you updated on what I decide. I may also switch products yet, so I’m still researching 😉

Ok, so today I have another house dilemma. We’re talking about fireplaces…

I’ve always wanted a double sided real wood fire. We had a real wood fire in a house we rented last year. I loved it so much that I’m building this house with one.

But this one will be double sided… Below is a sketch of how it will work. I have a floating wall.

There is a rough drawing of Kitchen/Family/Meals area. You can see where the wall will sit between the 2 areas. I haven’t labelled one Meals and the other Family, because I am wondering which area would you use as Family and which area as Meals? Then I may move the wall ever so slightly as I would prefer the Family to be bigger than the Meals.

If you’re not sure how this will work – you can see the fireplace will be double sided. That is, there will be a front plate in the Family room AND in the Meals area. I also still wanted to be able to see the tv when I’m in the Kitchen, but can’t really with this drawing (so I am still deliberating the wall’s position). The Family room will house a recessed TV. The shelves will see through from one room to the other to open the wall up. I am still on the fence about adding some wood in to the end of the wall as a feature?? You can see in one of the photos below what I mean about the wood (image number 1.).

Below is the actual fireplace I have looked at. It’s the Eureka Double Sided. Obviously it will be built in – not free-standing.

This product has not been set-in-stone yet. I’m still looking. A couple of things to add:

1. This wood fire will not be my main heating source – I am putting ducted gas through the home as well.

2. Wagga is cold for 5-6 months of the year so I will use it.

3. I will be buying the ‘flat front’ on the fireplace. It won’t look exactly like the one in the image – you can get front plate options. So it will be a little sleeker.

4. I won’t necessarily be buying the fireplace to build in to the house straight away. What, you ask?? Well, I am having the wall built and fire-rated and all the provisions done, but this fireplace is so expensive and I am saving some money for other stuff during the house building process and if I have some left at the end I’ll buy it straight away, if not, I’ll save for a few months and then add it in before next Winter.

Well, now what do you think? Any advice on making this better? Different? Sway me another way?

Any heating companies that want to talk to me about their products and benefits? I’m sure someone will have ideas that I didn’t think of? Maybe I’ve chosen the wrong fireplace? Maybe there are others to consider?

PS. I’m sorry to all the lovely people who are asking me to share my whole plans, but I have decided I won’t be for now. So sketches will have to do. Sorry! I’m just trying to protect my privacy while the house is being built. It would be like I’m inviting 100,000 people in to my home! Hope you understand 🙂