This is How We Are Going to Heat Our Farmhouse
Believe it or not, when we signed on the dotted line, Justin and I were completely oblivious to the fact that this little farmhouse of ours does not have a source of heat. Truthfully, it was not even a thought in our minds when we moved in, in the middle of summer…
When we saw the air conditioning unit, we just assumed that central air automatically means central heat. I mean if I had to prioritize the two, heat would most certainly win out. But, that is not the case here.
Maybe that’s why there are (in-operational) electric wall heaters in select rooms in the house (I’ve never seen that before), and why the previous owners installed two fireplaces in the same room. Did I mention that they are directly across from each other?
Ah, design was not a concern here, that’s for sure. Oh, and neither fireplaces actually work.
There is a plug for a wood stove (fireplace #1), and an “antique fireplace” that doesn’t have a chimney. So, said fireplace is also not operational.
Nevertheless, the past few nights have brought colder temps than normal, and finding a solution to our heating problem has since become priority number one. Honestly, waking up to frigid temps does make it harder to get out of bed. It’s also more difficult to coax the little ones from their beds to get the school day started.
And, I fear I am running out of extra blankets to make up the difference (lol). So, here we are…researching, debating, deciding…
THE DEBATE STOVE OR FIREPLACE
If you ask Justin, he has fond memories of ski trips to VT with his buddies, and that a-frame they stayed at? Oh yes, it had a wood burning stove. So, Justin is team stove rather over fireplace any day of the week.
As for me, I love a good fireplace. The larger the firebox the better. Something like this is right up my alley. Looove it!
We certainly have the perfect stone wall to accommodate such a fireplace. But, our farmhouse is just over 1000 square feet, and it might be too large of a scale. I know what you’re thinking…YA THINK?!
Yes, I may have to scale down my fireplace dreams right now. And, for the time being they might even need to be put on hold entirely. So, for now, Justin/convenience wins. Stove before the fireplace. Cutting into the stone wall is too big a project to take on at the moment.
How do you feel about the debate? Limitations aside, which would you choose?
Wood Stove Vs. Pellet Stove
There’s just something about the smell of a wood burning fire that is so comforting and cozy. I, for one, can spend hours completely entranced by the dancing flame. Then, there’s the warmth of the fire that keeps me toasty (read immobile).
Naturally, given Justin’s fond memories and my captivation of burning logs we gravitated toward installing a wood stove. But, is that what we finally chose?
Well, no. Even though there are wood stoves that are less expensive, we’ve been told that pellet stoves are making them (more/less) obsolete. Apparently the maintenance, and necessity to feed the fire with wood logs (instead of pellets) is a major factor. Also, I’d like to think the pellets are more efficient and environmentally friendly?
Truthfully, I am treading on foreign ground so, I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Until then, this is the pellet stove we decided on.
Right now, this stove will be the primary heat source for our farmhouse. In the future, we plan to move this stove to our barn. But, that’s a story for another day…
