Why I Oughta...

Each of the last few seasons, we've swapped out the wood holding grate in our fireplace.  I've bought some commonly-available ones from big-box stores.  They're made of steel (and not cast iron) and, frankly, while they appear beefy, they're not super heavy-duty.  And that's been a fine trade-off.  Buying one for $20 to $25 for the family room fireplace and it lasts for the one burning season.  Some call it Fireplace Grate Melt - but what happens is that a couple of places come loose and larger openings start to appear in the grate. I've posted recently about the prep work done by ordering , sorting and stacking all the firewoo d on the racks this year, but I also wanted to get ahead of the firewood season by dealing with the grate.  I looked around and settled on the grate that I think is right for us: this 28" wide x 15.5" deep (they call it Deep) "extra heavy-duty" grate .  It comes with what they bill as a lifetime guarantee t

We marked the evening fall temperatures lately with the maiden fire in our new fireplace recently.  I posted photos of this fireplace being built earlier on the blog back in March of this year, so you can see the location of this fireplace in that post.  I've posted a bunch of pieces on our various fireplaces over time that you can check out here .   We loved our outdoor fireplace back in Elmhurst - especially during the fall - when we broke out the s'mores, so I'm thinking we'll get a lot of use out of this new one.  Here's a photo from seven years ago showing the kid's cousins toasting their marshmallows .  We didn't do any toasting this time, but there's still plenty of fall left, right?  And in this one?  We have a gas burner, so I don't have to round up kindling and work to get it started each time. 

A few weeks back, I posted an update about our new place showing the installation of the windows in most* spots (The asterisk is because not all the windows are in...as we're still waiting on a few of the more 'fancy' ones...) and how that felt like real progress.  And there's been even more progress lately including the installation (do you call it that?) of the fireplace and chimney.  This one you see above is in what I think is going to be my favorite spot in the house: our screened porch. You'll note the the cables come out of the center of the masonry work above the fireplace, so one of the first jobs is going to be finding a tv that will work out there and getting it hung.   The room isn't huge, but I'm thinking Nat will do a great job finding the right seating mix where we can hang as a family out there and also where we can entertain folks.  And, frankly, something that I can take a Saturday afternoon nap on while watching some sports... The

Image of firewood rack via Menards (not my photo above) Last year was our first Winter in our house and was also the first year where we ordered a Face Cord of firewood.  I documented that Face Cord - and the location of the rack - here on the blog .  I set up our only rack in our screened porch, where it was covered and protected from the elements.  But last year we didn't have any furniture in the porch, so it was easy to do.  This year?  Nat has set up the room with a full set of furniture and even an indoor/outdoor rug.  So, that means space is limited inside.  At the same time, I've considered firewood rack options - including posting some inspiration here on the blog .  The placement of the rack has been bouncing around in my brain for the better part of the Summer.  I want to put it in a place that is protected from the elements, but not too far from the door because I know I'll want to walk out there in my house shoes to grab wood for the fire.  Also, I know

We started (re)construction of our house in September of 2008.  There's still! things that need to get done inside including the "finishing" of the fireplaces.  We put in 2 42" direct vent fireplaces - one in the family room and one in the front room (living room).  That's right....42"-ers.  Some folks brag on their plasma screens, I brag on my HUGE fireplaces - they type of which you have to go to Panera to see in person.  (Note...I think they might actually be too big/hot for a house our size!) Direct vent fireplaces (for those that don't know) have a piece of glass on the front of them and a 2 chamber flue/pipe that takes hot air out in one chamber and pulls cool air in.  It is a pretty slick technology. The downsides of direct vent are (obviously) it is NOT a wood-burning fireplace.  So, you don't get the smell or sound of those.  On the positive side, it **looks** like a real fireplace (they've gotten pretty good), it is clean (no dirty

During my time on the Frankfort Village Board, we often spent time in committees talking about the type of amenities that the government should undertake/build to make our downtown a bit more appealing.  Benches, water fountains, public restrooms all came up.  Those are easy.  They're all things that the local government can build that help bring shoppers down to your downtown.  That's always the goal:  improving the experience, which leads to more sales tax dollars. You know what we didn't think about?  An outdoor fireplace.  Too often, I think, we focused on the warmer months, but shoppers are out and about in the winter.  I saw this one (above) in Holland Michigan.  Theirs is gas powered and just about always on.  While I was standing there waiting for Nat to finish up at Tip Toes , I saw a few different groups of shoppers stop by for a brief warm-up.  The fireplace was working!

Not my photo.  Not my pizza oven.   Found it here online . Over the years, I've posted about my pizza oven dreams.  Backyard pizza oven dreams.  All the way back in 2010, I posted this photo of what I THEN called my "Dream Pizza Oven" .  And in 2011, I posted another photo that showed off a little 'roof' out front of an oven that I collected as inspiration.  That's close to ten years ago, so this *dream* has been going on for a while - as far back as our original house in Elmhurst.  But, when we moved, the backyard pizza oven dream didn't die and I even posted about the various locations that I could put it here on the blog .  And that brings me to today and *this* oven that you see above. I came across it online last week and have revisited the photo a few times now.  To be totally clear, that is NOT my photo above.  You can find the original here .  But, let's look at a few things that jump out to me in terms of pizza oven inspiration.  Fir

As part of the garage project, we put in a fireplace (I've talked about it at length before.)  All summer long, I tried to enjoy it, but everytime I put a fire on, it was just too stinkin' hot to really think that it was a great idea.  We had a few smaller fires - and enjoyed the looks but couldn't sit too close because the atmospheric temperatures were in the 90's, so the fires just made things worse. But...with last weeks temperatures in the 70's and 60's at night, the fireplace is getting put through it's proper paces.  I think we had fires 5 out of 7 nights last week.  My nephew and niece enjoyed the s'mores part of the night quite a bit.

Back in November, I posted a before/after set of photos of the pile of wood that I had partially chopped and stacked near our back door ahead of the winter season.  That pile of wood was made up of a series of logs that had been left behind by our tree guys when they cleared out a bunch of dying/scrub trees.  Think it was a blend of Walnut, Ash and Maple trees. As the weather turned, we started to use the fireplace in our family room.  And use it.  And use it.   We went through the entire stack of firewood by Christmas.  So, I had to order some. It is funny, the whole idea of ordering firewood make me felt pretty manly.  You know who else is a man?  I'm a man . I hunted around for providers and settled on one that had a good mix of wood, plus they delivered and stacked.  Yeah...stacked. I have fond memories of going over to my friend Matt's house on Saturdays during the fall when his Dad would be receiving his wood delivery.  We hauled and stacked it in their garage

Last night, Nat and I enjoyed the fireplace for the first time.  The temps were low enough outside to make it worthwhile.  Now that it is done, I'm thrilled with how it turned out. My nieces and nephews have already brought over a bag of s'mores fixings, so I'm certain we'll put it through it's paces this summer.

Late last week, I posted about the idea of building a 'garden nook' or a secluded area that draws you in as something that is 'on trend' this year and maybe something to consider for our backyard.  In that same post, I made a reference near the bottom of Japanese Moon Gates .   I included the moon gate as a way to potentially create a 'nook' but after looking around the Web, I now realize they're so much more. From this Old House Online story , you can find out the details of the structure: A moon gate is a circular opening, usually in a garden wall, which acts as a passageway. In China, where the gates were built in the gardens of wealthy nobles, various parts of the form and its ornamentation carry meaning. More generally, though, a moon gate is thought to offer an auspicious welcome or fortune to those who pass through. English gardeners borrowed the idea from China in the late 19th century. American gardeners immediately followed suit. A moon gat

Over the years, I've been quietly (and not so quietly ) pining for the day when I can build a wood-fired oven in our backyard.  Between the lifestyle we have (with young kids) and this being a pretty hands-on, weekend-time-sucking project, it seemed like it wasn't ever quite time.  But now?  I'm still not sure it is the right time for tackling something like this - what with the digging of the foundation/footings, building the frame, then cutting and creating the dome from firebricks. But, I also want to - and need to - get going on the full planning for the #newoldbackyard including some fall tree/shrub plantings and hardscape upgrades, future water feature placement , the eventual placement of a vegetable garden and greenhouse, irrigation system, a sports court and more. At our old house in Elmhurst, we built out a backyard pavilion that we used to shelter us from the sun that housed our patio and I'm keen to replicate some parts of that with a new pavilion

I'm really pleased how the front fireplace turned out!  The color came really close to matching the bookcases and they look like the whole thing could have been here for 100 years.  And...that was the over-arching goal! This room has come a long way.  Here's the "before" shot.  Since then, we tiled and put on the top.   And....the "After".

Here's a little update on our firewood situation.  I'm posting this mostly for my own historical marker of what we consumed so far this winter, both for planning for next year and to document where we are in early February.  Back in early January, I posted a photo of our Face Cord (or Rick) of firewood that we had delivered and stacked in our screened porch .  Thanks to Google Photos, I made this little top/bottom comparison of the current situation (top) to where we started when the Face Cord was delivered .   For full historical accuracy here on the blog, I suppose I should mention/link to the origins of this series.  There's one more before/after photo in my firewood series, but it is from November when I started to chop my own wood from logs that were left behind on our lot when we cut down some trees pre-build.   But back to the current state in the top photo.  Based on my eye, we've used about half of our Face Cord?  Seem right to your eye?  Maybe a li

Remember the post from back in November when I showed off one of my neighbor's poor Ash trees that had been ravaged by the Emerald Ash Borer?   When I posted the photos (with patterns caused by the larvae), I mentioned that since we burn so much wood (and I buy it all!), it might be interesting to see if I could score any of it for free. From that post : Maybe I should go talk to the builders and see if we can harvest some of it for firewood? I have to think that the larvae are long gone, right? We're only moving it 100 feet (so no cross-border movement!) and I would be seasoning it for the better part of a year before we got to burning it next year. Maybe it is something we could burn in out outdoor fireplace exclusively? All wishful/hopeful thinking of course. Welp, wishing and hoping turned into some reality recently.  I happened to be home on the day that the tree company was on site cleaning up the dead trees and managed to talk the crew into dropping some of th

I shared the sad state of our firewood hoard a few days back and mentioned that another split (50/50 Oak/Cherry) Face Cord was on it's way.  Welp, today, it is here.   This is the second year in a row that I had a third Face Cord delivered during the year.  In 2019, it came in mid-February , so we're running a couple of weeks ahead of last year.  Last year, I turned to the 50/50 Cherry/Oak blend for a couple of reasons (they were out of birch, I didn't want Ash, and this was the only 50/50 mix they had at the time) and those mostly held up this year.  We'll burn this stuff up over the next few months as the weather stays cold and hopefully, this load will take us until the weather breaks.   One thing to note:  quite a bit of this wood is split what I'll call 'larger'.  Larger pieces overall and what seems like more heartwood and less sapwood.  Not sure that's possible, but it seems that I'm getting my hands on a bunch of interior/heartwood p

Just two weeks ago, I shared a photo in my ongoing tracking of our firewood consumption and mentioned that we had mostly exhausted our Fall supply of Cherry and Birch that we had delivered and stacked in our screened porch and side porch.  This photo you see above is from a week or so ago after we had a second, late-Winter delivery of another Facecord of firewood from Best Firewood in Aurora.  This would be the third Facecord of wood that we've worked through since early October.  That's four months - at approximately 1/2 of a Facecord per month.  The supplier that we use has a different type and caliber of wood available in late January/early February vs. what they have in September and October.  So, this order included a wood that we haven't bought before:  Oak.   This is a Facecord that is split 50/50 between Oak and Cherry.  But, the Cherry is *different* than the Cherry we had delivered in October.  If you look at the rack in on the right, you will see the to

Arriving back from Michigan after a few days yesterday, Nat put the Babe to bed while I gave the lawn a much-needed haircut.  Once the tasks were done, we settled in for a nice night under the pavilion reading/drinking/relaxing. Like everyone else in Chicagoland , we have a bit of a mosquito problem.   But...fortunately for us, I picked up the most romantic of romantic birthday presents for Nat:  the Off Clip-on.   Along with a candle and the mother-of-all cintronella candles - our fireplace - we settled in for a long night outside.  The temperature was perfect - the light is nice - and we have a nice loveseat out there to snuggle in to together. We were in bliss for 40 minutes. Then....scurrying like only they scurry, a small skunk came moseying right along our patio - no more than 5 feet from where we were sitting.  I freaked out.  I'm thinking the skunk freaked out, too!  I knocked over Nat's glass of wine on the table - breaking one of her favorite glasses.  I grabbed

Arriving in the mail recently is the November edition of This Old House magazine.  On the cover was this very pretty fireplace.  It is a good inspiration for what we're going to do in the basement.  Aside from a different color tile and a raised hearth, I like the white trim and mirror detail above the mantel.

I put down three of these Sedum plants behind the fireplace in the backyard this past weekend.  Marking the spot here to document when/where they were put in.