Posted on December 20, 2022December 20, 2022 by marketing e-webstyle

8 Ideas to Create A Cozy Fireplace this Winter

Cozy Fireplace from Houston Home and Patio

Your fireplace is a stunning focal point any time of the year, but especially in the chilly winter months. When that glow is as functional as it is decorative, you want to put some extra thought into creating the right ambiance in this space. Putting together a cozy fireplace space will instantly inspire friends and family to gather around the glow, making warm winter memories that you’ll cherish for years to come.

Repurpose Your Patio Furniture

Some types of outdoor furniture will hold up through the winter season, but other items need a new home. Bring wicker, wood, and other natural patio furniture inside for the winter to protect it from the elements. Use these items in the living room for a cozy fireplace ambiance that just begs friends and family to gather round. Soften up your patio furniture and give it more of an indoor vibe with throw pillows, quilts, and cushions.

Add Molding Details to the Surrounding Wall

Frame out your fireplace with molding on the surrounding wall. Try placing a rectangle of molding just above the mantle to set off this decorative area. Add tall rectangles to either side of the fireplace as well, or create a tall arch that spans the fireplace. This is an elegant way to add depth and interest to your fireplace.

Paint the Fireplace Wall an Accent Color

A fireplace is an ideal feature for a warm and welcoming accent wall. Set off this side of the room even more by painting the wall behind the fireplace. A warm color like rust red or soft clay will create a welcoming atmosphere that just begs your winter guests to gather around and warm their hands.

You can enhance this element in the cold months by using other decorative elements, like throw pillows and blankets, that stay within the same warm color family. In summer, when you want the room to feel lighter and airier, choose a cool contrasting hue like slate blue or sage green.

Hang Décor Above the Mantle

The area above the mantle is the perfect canvas for creating a cozy, welcoming area around your fireplace. One popular approach is to feature a mirror in the center with wall sconces to either side. You might also fill the space with a painting for the perfect touch of personalization. Some homeowners choose to hang a flat-screen TV above the mantle. This creates an instantly cozy viewing experience with the gentle glow of the fire beneath your favorite holiday movies.

Create a Cozy Mantle Collection

Some rotating pieces of décor will create a distinctive seasonal ambiance on the mantle over your fireplace. Holiday decorations like soft stockings, charming snowman sculptures, and strings of warm twinkling lights create a distinctly cozy atmosphere. Since winter extends far beyond the holidays, you may want some other items to swap in after the new year. Try natural elements like garlands, wreaths, pine branches, or sprays of berries. These bring the few vibrant colors of the season indoors to create an eye-catching mantle piece.

Gather Blankets Near the Hearth

Set up a wicker basket to one or both sides of the hearth and fill them with soft blankets to cozy up your fireplace space in the winter. Fleece buffalo check throws, chunky afghans, and patchwork quilts all have a warm, welcoming appeal as they’re spilling out of a woven basket. These features are as functional as they are decorative, doing double duty throughout the winter season.

Set Up a Decorative Fireplace Screen

Set up a fireplace screen in winter for both safety and charm. The screen will keep wayward embers from making unsightly marks on your rug and protect small children playing near the fire’s welcoming glow. Meanwhile, a decorative screen with a lovely design will add interest to your mantle space.

Create Seasonal Symmetry on Either Side

Add to the ambiance around your fireplace with symmetrical decorations on either side of the fire. These might be twin Christmas trees, towering floral arrangements, framed paintings, elaborate light fixtures, or even long, heavy curtains if you have windows to either side of the fireplace. Elements like these help frame your fire, accentuate the focal point, and add an undeniable draw to this part of the room.

The right décor can go a long way toward transforming your home. Select quality decor items so you’ll always have a stock of beautiful pieces to work with.

Posted on December 14, 2022December 14, 2022 by marketing e-webstyle

Choosing an Indoor Fireplace to Increase Your Comfort

If you’re interested in enhancing the look and feel of your living space, an indoor fireplace is a great addition. This installation adds welcome warmth as well as a charming ambiance that’s sure to elevate the comfort and appeal in any part of the home. Here are some options you need to know about.

Wood Indoor Fireplaces

Wood fireplaces are the most traditional option for heating your home. They offer all the ambiance of days gone by with their distinctive smell of wood smoke. Since wood fireplaces need no electricity, they make a great backup source of light and heat in the event of a power outage. Wood-burning fireplaces are also more affordable to operate than most gas or electric options, particularly if you have a ready source of wood on your property.

A wood fireplace is only a cost-effective option if you have an existing chimney in place. If you’re adding the entirety of the fireplace to your home, you’ll need extensive masonry to create a wood-burning fireplace. You should also consider a fireplace screen or doors to keep stray embers from jumping out. Although the masonry work can be expensive, this type of fireplace adds great value to your home should you choose to sell it.

Gas Fireplaces

A gas fireplace burns propane or natural gas instead of wood. This type of fireplace often features a faux log to create the same look as a wood-burning fireplace, but you won’t have the crackle of the wood burning or the distinctive smell of wood smoke to accompany your fire. For some, this is a welcome change. Gas fireplaces are safer and easier to control than wood-burning ones. If you want a particularly modern look, you can even opt for a gas fireplace that burns on a sleek flat surface rather than a fake log.

Gas fireplaces produce more heat than wood-burning or electric fireplaces, making them the best option if you want to functionally heat your home with this type of installation. If you have a chimney in your home, you can install a direct-vent gas fireplace. This sends all smoke out of the home. If you don’t have a chimney, you’ll need to opt for a ventless gas fireplace. This will release a small amount of smoke into the home, but far less than a wood-burning fire. You should limit burning time for a ventless gas fireplace to six hours a day.

Electric Fireplaces

Electric fireplaces provide fast, efficient heating much like an electric heater. Electric fireplaces attempt to mimic the look and feel of a fire using faux logs, digital flames, and colored lights. However, there is no actual fire involved. Instead, electric fireplaces feature coils that heat up when electricity passes through them.

Electric fireplaces are quick and easy to install. They’re an incredibly affordable option because you don’t need to worry about vents or chimneys. You don’t even have to install this fireplace permanently in your home. Some stand alone and simply plug into the wall. Unfortunately, an electric fireplace has a shorter lifespan than a wood-burning or gas fireplace, but their affordable upfront cost offsets much of this inconvenience.

Fireplace Inserts

You can get a fireplace insert that’s wood-burning, gas, or electric. The insert itself is an iron or steel box with a glass door that fits inside your existing fireplace to increase energy efficiency. Gas and electric inserts are the easiest to use, as they require minimal maintenance and provide warmth at the push of a button. A wood-burning insert is more high-maintenance.

Design Considerations

You’ll find an abundance of fireplace designs to choose from regardless of the fuel source. A traditional fireplace sits within the wall with a hearth in front and a mantle above. These have a distinctly rustic look and feel, offering the traditional charm that people typically expect from a fireplace. If you’re interested in something more modern, however, you can choose options like a:

Multi-view fireplace to see the fire from two or more sides at once.
Firebox-only fireplace that lacks the typical glass found with gas fireplaces.
Contemporary fireplace featuring gas or electric fire over stones, rocks, or a smooth surface.

Adding an indoor fireplace to your home can truly change the atmosphere, providing warmth, ambiance, and even a woody smell if you go with a real wood-burning option. Shop our selection of fireplace accessories to create the ideal aesthetic for your new home installation.

Posted on November 23, 2022November 23, 2022 by marketing e-webstyle

Jazz Up Your Space With Upgraded Fireplace Doors

Get a Fresh Look by Upgrading to one of these beautiful Fireplace Doors

Your fireplace is a natural focal point of the home. If it’s not complimenting your decor the way you’d like, consider installing new doors to get a fresh look and upgraded appeal.

Corner Multi-Side Fireplace Doors

Two-sided corner fireplace doors add interest and depth to your fireplace. This type of door allows you to view the glowing fire from multiple angles, so you can fully appreciate its charming ambiance. If your home has a deep mantle with space for this type of feature, it’s hard to go wrong with a multi-side fireplace door upgrade. You’ll find that your fireplace instantly looks larger and more impressive. Use this type of door to amplify the effect of a centrally-located fireplace or to add more visibility for a corner fireplace.

If you’ve been thinking about installing fireplace doors with a blower, this multi-sided door may present a welcome alternative. You’ll have greater access to the flames so you can stoke the fire more effectively while still maintaining complete control.

Banded Scroll Fireplace Doors

An elegant banded scroll fireplace door makes your fireplace more decorative even when it’s not actively burning. It’s not practical to keep a fire burning at all times, so you want to choose a fireplace door that will look lovely even when the grate is cold. A banded scroll fireplace door design incorporates beautiful decorative scrollwork with a bronze finish for unparalleled sophistication.

Upgrading your fireplace with a decorative design reinforces the fireplace as a focal point of your living space. Use this approach for any refined living area where you want to create a cultured environment. Pair these scrollwork doors with a white painted mantle adorned with lush floral arrangements and sleek sculptures.

Blacksmith Fireplace Doors

If you’re upgrading your fireplace doors in a rustic living space, blacksmith doors are the perfect choice. This design emphasizes fine metalwork with old-world touches that immediately hearken back to simpler times. Elements like large decorative hinges and elaborate handles add interest to this style. With an arched shape, this door style frames your fire beautifully, creating an image that’s as charming as any painting.

Pair blacksmith-style doors with other rustic elements around your fireplace like a heavy butcher block-style mantle and timeless metal lantern candle holders. Exposed wood and brick enhance this type of home decor perfectly, serving as the ideal complement to your blacksmith doors.

Craftsman Fireplace Doors

Craftsman-style doors feature a window pane design with a simple rectangular frame around your fireplace. This classic look fits with nearly any style home. If you’re upgrading your fireplace to help you sell your home, this is a great option because the look is flexible enough to suit a variety of personal decorating styles. Clean and timeless, this option provides an open view of the fire with just enough added decoration to enhance the overall appearance of the fireplace. The mantel-style door is a very similar option with a little extra detailing along the top of the door.

Moderne Fireplace Doors

Moderne doors over the fireplace complement any contemporary home design. Modern home designs are all about clean lines, sleek spaces, and stark minimalism. The Moderne Original door features a brushed silver-colored frame and four glass panes. Lacking any other decorative elements, this type of door lets the fire blaze in all its glory with nothing to take away from this bright focal point.

If you prefer something a little more futuristic, the Moderne Roller offers an intriguing approach with two separate panes that roll toward or away from each other. The Moderne Slim Frame is as minimalist as it gets with one small, slim frame around the fire that’s hardly noticeable. With a modern fireplace, you may forgo the traditional mantel altogether. Leave the space above the fireplace empty or use it to hang a stunning painting or large flat-screen TV. Pare down on the knickknacks and let the simplicity of the space speak for itself.

If you’re interested in upgrading your home, check out Houston Home Patio. This fireplace store in Houston carries all these styles and more to help you take your home to the next level. Whether you’re working with a rustic old-world look or a sleek contemporary space, we have fireplace features that will fit your environment.