would you keep this fireplace (+ kitchen pics) ?

mantel.html

The suggested new one is worse than the one that's there. I don't like it at all. Fashionable tarting up. The feature they mention means your room will just look B & Q posh. At least what you have now is individual.

I'd save the cash and the effort until either I found I liked the existing one or thought up something really good. But it's you that has to live with it.

Book shelves are a good idea. There are never enough. I've now got overflow bookshelves in the summer house and they are well filled.

I don't really know what the room is like but I think the original fireplace might look well with a large simple wood framed square mirror about 1/3 the width of the mantel shelf.

Your fireplace is beginning to grow upon me. Clear the mantel shelf and things will look much better. Then think carefully about what you put on there. Spend the money on something interesting to look at that you'll really enjoy.

Anyway good luck with what you choose.

Edgar

Do you not have a wife that tells you what to like or dislike:-)?

-1 Not a Good Idea to place a mirror over a fireplace. People will stand in front of the fire preening themselves in the mirror and not notice their clothes catching light...

Yes. The trouble is she is pregnant at the moment, so she tells me something different every day ! Simon.

En el artículo , Edgar Iredale escribió:

It's a house for living in, not a bloody museum.

Preening? Not noticing? What kind of people do you know? Maybe it's a Darwinian opportunity.

Well, If folk really are that daft these days I'll have to agree with you and withdraw my suggestion. Even though I think it would improve things.

Edgar.

Congratulations on the baby.

Not that that will help her decide what you are allowed to like:-).

We've had a mirror above the fireplace for 15 years. Zero injuries in that time. Maybe I should fit a yellow warning sign just in case.

Alex

I thought mirrors above fireplaces were more to do with their effects on what the room is like (e.g. making it feel more spacious or reflecting light) than for personal use?

I've always lived in houses with mirrors above the fireplace. My grandparents had mirrors there too.

To me it is the obvious place 'cos it's the only place where someone won't stick a chair or table in front of it, stopping you getting close enough.

Can't say I've ever had a problem with the fires.

SteveW

Normally I'm no great fan of tiled 30's tat, but that's ok looking.

Photo of the M-i-L's traditional.

Owain

Very common occurance when there were lots of open fires and people wore cotton and linen.

Clothing is less flammable these days. An the fireplace is used less often.

References? Explanation? Proof? When did "these days" start?

Other than, for example, children's nightwear.

Well, I wasn't sure. But now I've seen that - keep it.

Andy

Women.

See below.

If there is an accessable mirror women can't resist preening themselves. B-)

Exactly. People can get close to the mirror, paying attention to their preening and failing to notice their clothing gettig too close to the fire.

And dress styles have changed, full skirts are not daily wear these days . But when they are worn it's a special occasion and the wearer more likel y to be in full preen mode and as they rarely wear a full skirt even less

aware of the dress into fire posibilty.

That's normal, nothing to do with being pregnant.

As a matter of interest, what type of fire surround might I have had in mind that you would have preferred over the current one ? I find matters of taste interesting, since they do develop over time.

If you are keeping an existing fireback etc., you have to use an "infill" panel, and the options seem to be tiles, stone or a cast iron plate like in my link. Lots of people fit a whole cast iron fire insert with vertical row of tiles either side, but that usually includes the grate so it cannot be used with the Baxi which draws its air from beneath the floor and whose grate is level with the hearth.

Cheers, Simon.