I’ve been left with just one job to do today. I’ve got to keep the fire going. You see Mr Shambles was determined that our house would have a wood fire. Memories of his childhood and all that. So he went and built a massive fireplace. Then tiled it with a jigsaw of slate. He had to get Hippie Child to work out where each bit should go, his original version looked crap. Luckily they were only laying it out on the grass at that stage.
There were days of tiling.
Some more heavy lifting to get the fire in place.
Until finally we ended up with this:
Now today I’m home alone without the firestarter child (Princess Child is going to be a woman of many talents). I seem to be loading in wood every half hour, my God it’s a hungry beast. I decided I was choosing logs that were too small (hence burning too quickly), so I pulled out the big guns and lugged in a massive chunk of wood, only to have difficulty fitting into the fire-place. Half in, half out, me unable to shut the door. Which was unfortunate given the end facing inwards had caught alight. Now I’ve got a burning piece of wood in my hands. Much swearing, shoving and even a little bit of kicking and I eventually fitted in it (admittedly it was getting smaller as it burnt).
I agree the wood fire is romantic and all, but with two teenage children our chances of snuggling in front of the fireplace sipping red wine watching the flames are pretty slim. This whole fire thing takes serious work. I think I’d prefer something with a switch you could turn ON. Would one of those fake fires be too bogan?
we have a woodstove but nothing like that
the slate is a work of art
stunning
Thank you Melanie, Mr Shambles will be delighted by your comment, it was a LOT of work.
Well, I was checking out those fake fires at a recent home show, and we are seriously considering converting a couple of our fireplaces to gas. I asked if we could have one without the “logs” or the “coals”, and the man looked at me as if I was nuts. Apparently the flames need something to “stand up on”. So we may be getting a fake log fire. Watch who you call bogan. On a positive note, that’s a helluva feature fireplace. I am seriously impressed.
I’m heading out to buy you a flannie shirt now. Least you don’t have to clean the fake logs.
Awesome fireplace. You all did a great job. You just need to adjust your flue so the wood burns slower!!!! Aren’t you a country girl???? He he..
yeah but not Timbertown country!!!
I’m proud of you. Now it’s time for Chrystina’s two wood burning stove stories. #1 – I have a burn mark on my left wrist because I left my hand on the glass far too long, I was telling a story and didn’t notice that my hand was being burnt. By the time I noticed it it was already a third degree burn so I didn’t feel a thing. One of the first things my mother said to me was that that mark was going to show up in all of my wedding photos – I was 10. #2 – there was a chimney fire one day and it was just my sister and I home alone and I didn’t know what to do and I started screaming at the top of my lungs for my sister (who was in the back of the house) and she clearly just didn’t give a crap because what would I need, then she saw finally dawdled out of her room and realized the kitchen was filled with smoke, panicked, and grabbed the hamster and ran next door. Meanwhile, I took out the fire extinguisher and failed miserably at putting out the fire in the stove. I now have a place with a real fireplace, there’s not a chance in heck that I’m going to use it without at least three other people present. And a large pail of water. Or three.
My god STAY AWAY FROM THE FIRE!!! You’ve given me my laugh for the day.
what’s bogan? we have a gas fireplace – useless for heat, mostly, but lovely to look at. your fire also looks beautiful! happy for you and mr. sh.
So I don’t get myself into trouble this is Wikipedia’s definition of bogan “usually pejorative or self-deprecating, for an individual who is recognised to be from an unsophisticated background or someone whose speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour exemplifies a lack of manners and education”. There’s a bit of bogan in us all!!