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REFLECTIONS OF HOME - BY LISA JENSEN
Warm in the Glow of a Silent Companion
As a home writer, I’m always drawn to fireplaces because
they can be such a unique expression of each homeowner’s
personality. A rustic split-log slab mantel, stately marble
hearth or a bold concrete surround all make distinctive, interesting
statements. So on a recent first visit to a newly constructed
modern retreat near Lake Michigan, I decided to see what the
fireplace had to say.
 I
expected to find possibly a limestone mantel centered prominently
on the two-story focal wall of the open monochromatic great
room. Instead, I found on the back wall a high-efficiency,
two-sided fireplace that benefited three living spaces simultaneously:
the dining area and living room on one side, and a basic three-season
patio on the other.
Here in this space, almost everyone at the party had gathered,
wine glass in hand, before the invigorating warmth. The homeowners
had arranged indoor/outdoor furniture into a comfortable conversation
area. Appetizers brightened the wide teak coffee table at
that moment, but the homeowners shared how their family loved
to make hot cider, pull on favorite sweaters and play a board
game here after dusk on autumn evenings. During winter months,
the kids gathered here after shaking off snow for hot chocolate
and recaps of sledding runs gone amuck. As a couple, they
said, they made dates here throughout the spring and summer
after the kids fell asleep, for either quiet conversation
or silent reading and to enjoy a symphony of crickets from
their wooded backyard.
Thoughtful consideration of lifestyle had narrowed their
innumerous fireplace options to this one. And I realized,
for the first time, that maybe the most ingenious fireplace
didn’t ever have to say a thing.
For more information, check out http://www.outdoorfireplace.com/fireplaces_twilight.asp.
Banner photo by The Taunton Press |
