top of page

Come on baby light my fire

My bedroom is like an icebox in the winter.  Compared to the rest of the house, that is.  It sits above my unheated garage, and much as I love the beautiful light that pours in through a big wall that's nearly two-thirds windows, the windows themselves are that barely-make-the-cut builder's-grade quality and face northwest, letting in enough drafts that I can see my breath indoors on cold nights. Ok that's a bit of an exaggeration.  But it is definitely chilly in here. I recently had one of those eco-ENERGY retrofit inspections done on my home, thinking that if I was going to do some home renos anyway, I might as well take advantage of the government incentives currently being offered in Canada.  I'm also looking at putting in a tankless water heater and a couple of other eco-friendly upgrades, so all the more reason to participate in the program. Then I had someone come in to give me a quote on the bedroom windows and it was going to cost nearly triple what I had anticipated it being.  My anticipation was completely uneducated, mind you; I had never priced out windows for my house before, and just didn't have a clue about how much it costs.  Upgrading the windows is probably a wise thing to do in terms of how much energy I'd be saving for heating and cooling, but I'm struggling spending that chunk of change on windows when I could use it to furnish my empty basement. Then I had a bright idea:  I'd get an electric fireplace in my room instead...at least for now.  I've long dreamed of having a fireplace in my bedroom, both for the romantic ambiance and just plain old cozy comfort of it, but now it suddenly made really good sense.  I just got a new bedroom suite and the idea of getting a matching fireplace lit me right up.  Pun intended. Following my electric fireplace epiphany, I started looking around for something that would match both my decor and my budget, but wasn't having much luck yet.  I figured the end of the winter might be a good time to get one on sale since stores were likely to be trying to clear their winter inventory, but I wasn't finding anything that was the right colour and the right price all at once.  Then last week Ryan and I were at the mall shopping for a birthday gift for my godson when serendipity stepped in and took me past a display that still contained a handful of cost-friendly electric fireplaces.  Immediately I saw one that matched my furniture; it was the last one of its kind.  It was even the same brand as some of the ones I'd seen a specialty fireplace stores, even though this store was definitely not specializing in fireplaces.  And the kicker: it was only two-hundred and fifty dollars.  Yes!  I had been shopping around and the lowest prices I'd found thus far were way, WAY higher than that. I thought I'd hit the jackpot until the cashier went to ring it in and the teenage staffer they had paged to help me load it into my vehicle reminded her that all their fireplaces were on sale for 50% OFF.  Yeah you heard me!  FIFTY PERCENT OFF OF TWO-HUNDRED & FIFTY!  Well definitely then I REALLY knew I'd hit the jackpot.  I had thought it was a steal at two-fifty, but one twenty-five?!  An unbelieveable find. And I'm happy to report that having got it home and assembled and tested, it is indeed working wonderfully.  It looks great, throws some nice heat and if you want, you can even set it for a selected fixed period of time before it will shut off automatically as you head off to dreamland.  Plus it has a remote control so I can run it right from the comfort of my bed. Which is where I'm headed immediately after I finish this entry.  I have a fireplace flame to go enjoy.

  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • X/Twitter
  • LinkedIn
IP_Certified_Trainer_logo_bw.png

©2023 by Kelly Wagner

bottom of page