Fireplaces can be traced back to a million years, starting with the cave dwellers who dug holes inside the cave, filled it with twigs and other tinder and lit them with flint and stone. Life in that age must have been very demanding and difficult. The cave men would sit around the fire and warm themselves. With the passage of time, the centrally dug hole moved towards the wall and hence was born what came to be called as time fireplaces. As evolution continued its march, the human being also searched for better living options and moved into huts, then onto clay houses and further onto two storied buildings.
During the 1500 s and 1600 s and up to part of the 1700 s fireplaces were found in many castle kitchens. Over a period of time, these fireplaces evolved from being just baking places to heating places situated against the walls. The chimney appeared at this time as a solution against smoke.
In the 1700 s, historical change to improve the working of the fireplace was made by Benjamin Franklin who raised the level of the tray holding the firewood, consequent to which the heat started going around the fireplace resulting in better warming.
It was Count Rumsford, now acknowledged as the father of the fireplace who designed a shallow box, helping easier removal of smoke, who really brought about a revolution in the fireplace.
The modern fireplace developed from the above history. The fireplace is somewhere you can rest your weary bones after a hard day s work and where the family gets together in its warmth and comfort. Many a romance is reported to have started at the fireplace and ended up in marriage. Just the crackling of the wood and the burning of the embers is a sight that will exude peace of mind. A warm and cozy rug is a worthy complement in enhancing the romanticism of the fireplace.
In the modern day fireplaces have undergone awesome developments combining simplicity with aesthetics and good design. The most common ones are the Lime stone fireplaces which are unique in that no two limestones will look alike and provide a lot of variation options to the buyer. You then have cast iron fireplaces which are inserted into the masonry of the fireplace and look beautiful with timber or silver mantles. Burnished metal is used to line terracotta fireplaces while wrought iron ore polished timber look elegant on patio fireplaces.
The earlier traditional fireplaces used natural wood as fuel and they provided a distinct aroma to the room. However, lighting the wood, to many is a laborious process and keeping the flame going seemed even more difficult. Moreover, maintaining the fireplace, cleaning it etc is also difficult. This has prompted many to opt for Gas fireplaces run on propane gas with faux pas materials which depicted all the originality of a traditional fireplace without any of its hassles.
There are many prospective buyers of fireplaces who want to install it in their backyard. Some even want to build it themselves. Care should be taken to buy only branded materials and sufficient precaution should be taken on the location of the fireplace.
Author Resource:
Annie is an expert furniture and interior design writer. Her current area of specialism is http://mydeco.com/c/special-offers/garden-outdoor/1252/ garden furniture, http://mydeco.com/search/?query=loft-bed&prefdb= loft bed and http://mydeco.com/c/office-furniture-chairs/116/ office furniture
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