It's here!

Ok so lets start from the beginning. A few months ago we finally decided to get a fireplace insert with a blower for the living room. A NH winter and room filled with a bunch of huge windows is not the coziest place to hang out. So what was wrong with the old fireplace, well did you know that a fireplace may see nice and warm but it's actually sucking all the hot air right up though the chimney. You may get toasty sitting in front but your room is slowly getting colder and colder. We know this from experience.

So we started looking into inserts and what we saw was old fashioned and not the right size. Also we had a big decision to make, wood burning or pellet. We originally wanted a pellet stove, but after getting more info, a pellet stove would have to be sticking out of the wall by at least a foot. That was not the look we were going for, so then we looked into wood stoves. We wanted something scandinavian and modern looking and we did find a few things, but they wouldn't fit in our space. My husband did some searching and found a place online called Acucraft, which is based in Minnesota. What's special about this company is that we could design whatever we wanted for the space. Great! I sketched up what I wanted and then got my husband to draw out a technical drawing. This thing slid in like a glove!

We tested it out last night and it looked gorgeous with a roaring fire. We still need to figure out the electrical stuff for the blower by drilling a hole into the back to steal some electricity from the studio. I'll keep you updated.

Outside & inside - Plus giveaway winner

As you can see by the image I posted yesterday, the outside of my home has come a long way! It looked more like a jungle than a front yard. Thought I'd post these images to enjoy the summer a bit longer, leaves are already falling down and it's getting a bit chillier.

Now on to the inside. Ok, we finally found the right man to install our custom stove, but we have to wait until 24th to finally see it in. Can't wait to test this sucker out!

So how did we get this 1000lb stove in the house? Well after taking off the door and inner bricks we were able to roll it inside using a piece of plywood with wheels we got from Ikea (knew those wheels would come in handy one day.) So it's been sitting there taunting me, it won't be that much longer now. No more chilly nights when this thing gets burning.

Giveaway time.
Ok, and the winner of my fabric is.......

Marja van de Nes! Send me a message with your contact info

It's here, it's here!

My 1000lb baby just got delivered! Not sure how we are going to get this thing in the house, but for it's in the driveway. We have a few people coming by next week to give us installation quotes, maybe they will have a solution.

Fireplace update

Got some metal finish samples but I was a bit disappointed because they didn't look like the pictures I saw online. I was hoping the japanese brown patina would have more of a purplish hue, but everything just looks brown to me. I think I might just go black. I'm going to ask for another sample thats just their standard black. Yay, more choices...

Fireplace insert details

Japanese brown patina



Here is a more detailed image of what it will look like, got my husband Al to take charge of the technical drawing stuff. My sketches always look wonky, thank goodness someone around here can draw things in perspective.



Ok, so I like the japanese brown and the black and I even like the copper. The black to me seems like the safe route and I want this to be a unique looking fireplace. This house has a lot of interesting brass and wrought iron elements so I want this to be special. Guess I'm gonna be the annoying customer and ask for metal samples, I need more than just pictures.



Also still not liking the handle they chose for us, would love to recreate the hardware on the hallway closets. I think the standard handle is ugly for safety reasons. Will look into it.

Hallway closet handles

Front door hardware

I need your help!

So my husband and I have decided to get a new wood burning stove insert, something that has a blower that will really warm up the house in the winter. Right now it's just some glass doors and brick behind it (the current doors are not original).



Having walls of windows can feel a bit chilly, and when ever we used the fireplace it would actually make the room even colder. So we started looking for something modern, but most fireplace inserts in the US look so ornate and dated. To make matters worse our fireplace opening is a weird size and the stone mantle really narrowed down what we could do. Soooo... we found a company that makes custom fireplace inserts. We can do what ever we want! I want one large door, but there are lots of options for what colors it can be. It's such a tough decision! I'm going for a rustic - modern look. Anyone have a favorite look?

Copper patina

Matte Black

Aged Bronze patina

Japanese brown patina

Fireplace mockup

Left: current fireplace
Right: mockup
My home can get quite chilly in the cold winter months, especially in the living room/ dinning room area. We do have this beautiful fireplace that we use often, but every time we burn wood it looks cozy and warm, but all that hot air just gets sucked up the chimney making the room even colder!

We started looking into modern looking pellet stoves and at fireplace inserts for just burning wood. I don't think we have many options finding a modern looking pellet stove for our type of fireplace but I think we can get a simple and sleek insert that blows the hot air back into the room. I'm not sure which is better to get yet, we still need to go to a fireplace store and talk to someone about it. Have any of you updated your fireplace? And was it worth it?

It’s a mod, mod, mod, mod world

photo by Joanne Rathe

It's finally out! Please enjoy this cute Boston Globe article about me and my home, by Meaghan Agnew, with photographs by Joanne Rathe. Thanks Meaghan and Joanne!

Click here to see more pictures of my home!