We’ve been in this new house for a little over a month and in that time, we’ve used our fireplace (here), more than we did in total, the four years in our previous house.
The old house had a ventless gas fireplace, while this one has a woodburning fireplace, with a gas starter. So basically, we can use wood or have gas logs installed. We’ve been using wood. And loving it.
At the last house, we couldn’t have the fireplace on for more than about ten minutes before the smell of gas was so overwhelming, that I thought we all might die. For a while, I thought something was wrong with our fireplace, but after consulting with many other neighbors, who had the same issue, we discovered that it was a common occurrence. And one that could potentially be solved by buying better (read: significantly more expensive) gas logs.
But we never bothered. Instead, we cursed the builder for installing something cheap.
We’ve had a wood fire burning here many nights. And it’s been so cozy.
There have also been s’mores. Many many s’mores.
In making some choices with this house, our priority was having spaces and “stuff” that we’d actually use. With a focus on cutting the crap that we don’t use or need. And it’s so nice to have a fireplace that we’re using. It has made our family time in the evenings something completely different than they were before.
Change: so far, so good.