When my wife and I moved into our first house, there were certain things that we considered non-negotiable.
We knew we’d want a house that had two bathrooms, as we spent long enough sharing the same small bathroom.
We also knew that the house had to be recently renovated with a new air conditioning system – preferably one that was centralized. Most important of all our demands, however, was our need for a proper fireplace. While our region stays fairly temperate throughout the year, this need we expressed for a fireplace was mostly due to us just needing one for heat. We didn’t like the idea of relying on our central heating system, as the house was equipped with an electric furnace for heat. The problem with this heating system was that it used a ton of electricity to function – about six times what our air conditioning system used per hour! So, a fireplace was preferred. It required no electricity to function, and it made a huge difference as far as making the house feel comfortable when it was cold outside. Besides, the fireplace provided an aesthetic appeal that no other house had! Especially since this house we were looking at had this big fancy fireplace mantle. We could imagine stockings hanging from the mantle, as we sat in front of a warm fire in the fireplace during the holidays. That image alone was enough to convince us to buy the house, and we’ve been loving this place ever since!