I am still confused. DH has dragged me to 5 shops in a week and we've seen and felt a lot of fireplaces. I have another thread where I am looking for explanations of the remote/thermostat choices, but we still don't have a fireplace picked. From this forum, I understood that B vent fireplaces are less expensive and less likely to blast us with heat in a bedroom (yes, yes, they use room air and are less efficient, too -- got that). So we got some b-vent bids. Macey, we now have a bids for the Lennox B-vent Crestlines and they are about $4900 total for the 42" and $4660 for the 36", compared to $3810 for the Lennox direct vent Elite 36". Why is the direct vent less expensive??? Please help us sort our bids out before our contractor kills us.

The advice for a good Feng Shui says that the seating should face the person entering the room. From my experience, it makes sense. The room looks more inviting and welcoming that way. My approach is to avoid any seating positioned with its back to the stairs and dining area. Still, I have two wingback chairs in the middle of the room with their backs to the dining room. Not perfect, but my teen often moves them around, so they can end up in any corner of the room. Then my hubby pulls them back in place when he wants to sit down with his newspaper, lol! My living room is truly a room for living. My folks congregate in it, so I set it up to accommodate everyone. TV, my kid's computer in a corner, bookshelves, lots of varied seating and coffee table that are easy to move around, etc. This last weekend my teen had two friends for a sleepover. They camped in the living room. He and I moved the coffee table, long ottoman and one of the armchairs to the guest bedroom. He also put the furniture back the next day after his guests were gone. Same for my husband who likes to do his stretches in front of the TV after his long bike rides - he pushes the coffee table and an armchair out of the way too.

I sent her a picture of it sitting in my sand/weeds/grass, and she called me and said she wants it "as is". (I'm wondering if I should seal it anyway.) The frogs it's to compliment are also plain, so I guess she figures it will kind of match. If I remember to take my camera, I'll take a picture of it set up in her yard. My dad died in May of 2006, and my brother took all the remaining grass out (my dad had begun the project) & put in mulch so she has no mowing to be taken care of or grass to water. So it should show up pretty nicely against the mulch & plants. DH has his list of things to get with the truck for me to make another one though, & I'm thinking of colors, designs for it, LOL.

We have a wood-burning fireplace in the living room, which is at one end of the 20' x 40' great room that includes the LR, DR and kitchen. So it is visible from all three. We use it 2-3 nights per week during the winter (November - February). We're in central Alabama, so winter nights don't usually get much below the teens. We got new HVAC this year, though, so the FP will probably be more for ambiance than for heat now. But I have to say that in the four house I have owned, this one is the only one that works well and draws well. The others (1920s homes) always required a cracked door or window or something to keep the place from smoking up. The ca. 1978 FP has heat vents on the front. No fan, just the vents. I don't see that they really do much. One always heats up more than the other (a different one each time). I'd rather they not be there so I could have a nice clean brick wall instead of the vents, which, when combined with the opening for the firebox, make the whole thing look sort of like a pale jack-o-lantern. I have two IKEA canvases hanging on the vents right now, so they are hidden. We just take the canvases down when we actually light a fire. In the fall/winter we have guys on the streetcorners with truckloads of split, seasoned wood. They follow you to your house and unload and stack it for you. So it's not a big deal at all. As for the bugginess, we live in the woods, so . . . there will be bugs. We don't freak out about it.