Den

[dancerjodi]

I just ordered a gel fireplace http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=353046&pCatg=4780 for our den. It will live on the interior wall, next to the door to our dining room, where the TV used to be http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/3111201692/in/set-72157611219060733/.

I've struggled with what to do for a pseudo-fireplace experience. I grew up in a house that had one (both in Wellesley and Waltham) and we had one at the Framingham house. Lensman and Roaming have one of these that the assembled and painted to make much more realistic, and the warmth and crackle from it was very comforting. After ruling out installing a gas one, remembering how pleasant theirs was and weighing our options I am excited to finally have a solution.

We'll probably paint it a gray stone color so that it matches what we have going on in our Den. Brian thinks we should redecorate, saying the tiki just doesn't match this. I'm going to have to ponder it a bit. We went through such effort to decorate this room and I don't feel like repainting. The curtains could probably use some changing . . . there is a lot of green in there. We have so many windows, that finding a good solution for the room is always challenging. Something to ponder (and have fun with).

Comments

[lensman.livejournal.com]

Besides the basic assembly I did a few additional changes/modifications to both the Living Room and Dining Room fireplaces.

For my own ideas of safety I added a sheet of the thin silver reflective insulation around the back of the firebox (This had two effects: 1) to keep the heat away from the curtains that we have falling behind the Arches in front of our window, and 2) blocked any light from the window showing through the crack and spaces between the firebox and the decorative parts of the fireplace front).

After assembling the wooden decorative structure, there were lots of gaps I filled most of those with caulk, but our downstairs neighbor showed me a trick using a wet paint brush to going over the caulking which seems to help sink the caulk in better and smooths it out so it almost completely disappears. Then I painted the whole thing using a stone texture spray paint (I don't off hand remember which brand. I had tried two of them and the first one came out very muddy and gloppy not pleasing at all) I'll check on that when I get home tonight and let you know.

That model fireplace came painted already with a stone texture but it was a much more coarse then we wanted. Adding the finer texture over that evened it out, and made the caulking look more like stone grout. :-)

Oh and a note on the fuel cans

[lensman.livejournal.com]

The nice crackling effect comes from a brand called "Real Flame", which is more expensive to get from their web site. I've found it for cheaper on-line at Target, and I also found it on Amazon for the same price. While looking up the links for you I also found another brand called "SunJel", Which also looks to be more expensive for the cans, but which also sells refill bottles for their canisters. I haven't tried them, but they sound like the same basic stuff (Though I can see SunJel is clear where as Real Flame is a reddish gel), and they do not suggest reusing the cans more then 4 times.

What about..;.

[dee-cee.livejournal.com]

Something like this:


http://biffinc.com/tikifireplace/tikifireplace.html

Re: What about..;.

[lensman.livejournal.com]

Heh that's great.. but I looking at it I keep thinking abut the Brady Bunch Hawaii trip... :-)

Re: What about..;.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

That's AWESOME! I'd love to do a GreenMan fireplace out of that!

But. . . if it's FOAMCORE, how is it firesafe????

[isolatory.livejournal.com]

I've been struggling on what to do with our living room's built-in mantle that has no fireplace. The wallmount gel units would fit perfectly in there. Thanks for posting that link!