House Update - Fireplaces

Fireplaces!  Well well well.  Evidently fireplaces aren't very cut and dry and there are lots of decisions to be made on them as well.  We have two fireplaces at the house so let's talk about them separately.  

1.  Outdoor fireplace - we had decided to have this one be wood burning and not gas.  We think we will enjoy having a place to smell a real fire!  It will match the brick on our house and actually be very similar to the one in the below picture.  

We had to decide this past weekend where the angle on it goes up in relation to the roof of the covered porch.  We thought it would go on an angle up and the angle would be smooth.  But when we were talking about it with my parents, my Dad suggested it to step up with the bricks offset about 1/2-3/4".  It was funny because he said let me find a picture of what I mean and he pulled up this picture.  Guess what, this was on both Kevin's and my Houzz ideabooks so this was a no brainer.  I think the detail of it stepping up is really pretty.  

We decided to make the hearth 18" up off the finished grade of the porch so it will be a sitting hearth like the one below.  I imagine first day of school pictures here!  The firebox bricks will be in a straight pattern, not herringbone like below.  We are doing herringbone on the inside fireplace.

Here they are on Monday working on it...

Indoor fireplace - 
Well there are several different types of indoor fireplaces.  Direct vent where it vents directly outside via a pipe that runs through to the exterior of the house and the fireplace had a glass front and it pulls fresh air in and vents back out, vent free where it vents back into the space or B-vent where it draws inside air and exhausts out and doesn't have a glass front. 

Ultimately we decided to spend the extra money and do direct vent mainly because we didn't love the idea of a gas fireplace that doesn't have a vent.  I realize we are using gas appliances that emit into the air but we felt better about having the fireplace vent.  Ours will vent directly up and out of the top of our roof.   Our fire place guy told me that Direct Vent is the most popular, followed by B-vent then vent free.  

The inside of the firebox will have a herringbone pattern which will be pretty and this will be a gas fireplace.  So click and we have a fire!  The mantel will sit 5' off the finished floor grade.  And yes, we are putting a TV above the mantel....I know, I know but we have it like that now and it is so practical.  Our bookshelves on either side aren't wide enough for the size TV we need for that room so that's how it's going to be!  

I'll show some updated photos as they work on these!