Fireplace Designs
Whether you are thinking through your design decisions for your new home or doing some remodeling, adding a fireplace to the central living area will be a great way to give that room plenty of personality and make it a favorite room where everyone will love to congregate. The interesting thing about fireplaces is that they tend to draw people to gather around them, even when they are not being used to house a fire. In fact, they add such a nice layer of elegance and "hominess" to any living room that many people insist on having a fireplace central to their homes with no intent on ever using them for fires.
It is this time when you are making interior decorating designs that you can do some homework on the huge variety of designs for your fireplace that are at your disposal. When you envision a fireplace, you naturally see the traditional red brick style with a wood mantel. But a little research and web surfing will reveal that you can find a design for your new fireplace that is unique and will blend with you interior decorating themes beautifully.
One design decision is also a practical one if you wish to have a fully working fireplace where you will enjoy a soft and comforting fire on a chilly winter's evening. For many, the idea of a fire in the fireplace during the holidays is just the right touch to make the home come alive and give it that festive feel that makes our holiday celebrations so special. But you have some choices when it comes to what kind of fires you will build in your hearth. The choices between wood fires or gas or electric methods will be a decision that will affect your lifestyle and how much work maintaining that fireplace will be.
Whether the importance of burning wood in your fireplace is important to you or not is a personal decision. For many, simply the feel of a fire in the fireplace can be recreated beautifully with a gas or electric fire that uses a steady supply of controllable fuel and that eliminates the fuss, mess and danger of having wood actually burning in your home. It really is a matter of how you expect to use your fireplace. To simulate a camp out fire, wood is the way to go. But to have a fire in the fireplace that is a soft and relaxing backdrop to having friends over or a formal cocktail party, the gas or electric design of fireplace could work well for you.
Another approach to adding a fireplace to your interior design is to create a modern looking fireplace that is not designed for a fire at all. If you just like the look of a hearth but one that will not be used for fires in the firebox, that opens up a lot of possibilities in construction materials and in how elaborate the fireplace itself is. Marble or other materials that are more ornate look wonderful but they are not the type of facing you would use if you actually are going to burn a fire in the fireplace.
It really is a matter of lifestyle and how you see your fireplace fitting into your way of life and how you will entertain in that room. By thinking it through when you are in the process of designing the room, you can have a fireplace created that fits the décor perfectly and speaks well of your personality and sense of style.