I watch a lot of "Escape to the Country" on YouTube, and I love the way the huge ol wood-burning fireplaces have been turned into homes for stoves, either wood-burning or multi-fuel ones. I love the way that huge fireplace is the focal point for the LR and also protects other objects (and people/pets/children!) from getting too close to the stove and being burned. I would not want a free-standing stove at all.

@BethH wow! That sea foam and gold chair is perfect with this couch. After unpacking the couch, it is a hunter green. Dark and luxurious. I am quite pleased and it isn’t far off at all from the photo. After seeing it, I don’t think we will go with a blue rug. Maybe gray or beige instead. I like the bright colors in the rugs some have suggested, especially when paired with about 8 fun pillows. But for the sake of my fiancé’s sanity, I will keep things neutral and chill with clean lines. That top photo with the green couch and wooden table seems spot on with my fiancé and I’s compromise on decor. I figure as our life becomes more calm (the baby getting older) the color scheme will become more eccentric. For now, though, the peaceful neutrals and deep green offer solace amid the craziness of a baby and a home under construction.

Here is the finished product. You all were very helpful as I began my dive into this project. Very good points for safety were made, and I took them all into consideration. As I continued my search for information I landed at Hearth dot com and got a lot of help with the detailing of this stove install. Some of you may have been to that site. They were great! DH and I started looking at stoves in February, right before Corona virus took off. Early March I had purchased a stove on sale because of the new EPA 2020 standards that were coming out. I got a Jotul 45, 1st version. They have since come out with version 2. Someone on Hearth dot com lived in my locale and told me about another stove for sale, so I took a look. Then my eye traveled around the corner and I spotted the Jotul. The one I was looking at was an Osborn and I think a little larger than we were considering, but I allmost bought it, until I saw the Jotul 45 around the corner. Then I realized the size was perfect for our basement stairway. It was about the size of a European washer, that I have in the basement. I am so glad I didn't get the Osborn, as I don't know if we could have made the stairway turn to get into the basement. I picked the stove up early March, wary of the contact with others. We had lined up a chimney sweep to install flexible insulated double walled stainless steel lining and insulated rigid chimney pipe up top, at the top of the brick chimney and out the roof. I think the whole run is 14' (edited to add, I think the run is closer to 20' now that I think about it). I have insulated stove pipe going from the stove to the brick chimney with liner. I have the stove sitting on a repurposed slab of soapstone, so that when the basement floor gets damp or water, it is above the wet and won't get rusty feet. The water is an issue about 2x/year due to old clay block foundation. We bought some 2-3 year old seasoned wood for this winter, and have cut one locust, and 2 ash trees down for the future. I love using our friends wood splitter. old unsafe chimney that only went 1/2 down the brick chase: New scheme: the "new Jack" was not put in: show room floor, my new Jotul 45 (1st version) I'll post more...as I have been having trouble getting more than 4 pics to load.

Where is the TV? How do you use the space shown? Anyway you can get a picture from further back? I'm having trouble understanding how everything relates to one another. A couple things that stand out to me: The chair with it's back to the fireplace feels odd. What is it facing? (Maybe this would make more sense with better context, but in this picture it has an odd relationship with the couch and fireplace.) The blue and gold floor lamp feels out of scale with the fireplace. Maybe a table lamp would work better there ... is that trunk acting an end table? I think the relatively small artwork is also contributing to the larger feeling of the fireplace. The side pieces are also fighting with the lamps in front of them in these pictures (and the left one's crooked). You might try taking those and the one above down to see how it looks. (You have those pretty vases, so I don't think it'll look bare.)