HEARTH & HOME
Fireplaces add cosy appeal
The fireplace never stops being a statement piece, but for some people, it takes on an even more meaningful role at this time of year.
It might be that cosy feeling to offset frosty winter days or, for those who celebrate Christmas, the sentimental connection to childhood memories of red stockings hanging above the flames.
While fireplaces are more typically associated with single-family homes, it’s a warmth and ambience that can be enjoyed in multi-family developments, too.
“There definitely is a connection with homes and fireplaces,” says Bryan Logel, vice-president of sales and marketing for Brad Remington Homes. The company is currently selling into My Legacy Park II, a condo development in the southeast Calgary community of Legacy. “Often, purchasers tell me they imagine themselves in the living room with the fireplace on, spending a quiet evening inside away from the cold, or with friends and family with the fireplace being part of that experience.
“With the regulations, size and cost of gas fireplaces, electric fireplaces appear to be the future,” he adds. “They have become very realistic and there are so many options. Currently, though, we do offer the classic gas style whenever the floor plan/design allows.”
Cardel Lifestyles has seen interest in electric fireplaces and has made it an upgrade option for buyers.
“In a lot of cases, it comes from people having that experience in the past where they grew up with a fireplace in their house,” says Brad Logel, area sales manager for Walden Place. “To them, it’s ‘OK, I’ve always had a fireplace in the home I’ve grown up in and that’s my connection to home.’
“The modern style electric fireplace now looks like a real fireplace,” he adds.
Furthermore, Cardel Lifestyles has given buyers a variety of stylish looks for the wall in which the fireplace is installed. This includes, as displayed in the development’s Legacy show suite, painted knotty fir in a striking chevron pattern.
“That adds another level to having a fireplace,” says Brad Logel. “So not only do you have a fireplace but a feature wall.”
He says the installation also comes with additional wood backing along with an electrical plug and conduit. This helps with run- ning cables and wires for those that would like to mount a television above their fireplace.
When it comes to having a gas fireplace, builders face certain technical hurdles that make the feature less common in multifamily developments.
“Venting challenges occur when there is either not enough wall space for the fireplace vent to be situated on an exterior wall without interfering with the ability to provide an opening window (side vented) — or when the addition of a vent chase and the subsequent box out it requires proves detrimental to the design of the unit plan (top/ roof vent),” writes Charron Ungar, president of Avi Urban, in an email.
For visual interest in great rooms, Avi Urban offers custom millwork. Ungar adds, lightheartedly, “Combine that with the ‘ log channel’ available on TV during the Christmas season and you have most everything you need to get that romantic winter setting.”
StreetSide Developments has a current site in the Killarney Townes and a future development — set to launch sales in 2018 — in the Villas of Silverado that make gas fireplaces a possibility.
For gas fireplace options, StreetSide’s product development co-ordinator Lisa Kaiser says the fireplace look is “simple and classic.”
One way to go is the picture frame mantel.
“The mantel itself is painted wood — simple clean lines,” Kaiser says.
“This very simple mantel design is clean, timeless and works with any decor.
“The area immediately around the fireplace that is required as a non-combustible material is trending in stone-look tile, or in minimal to no-seam quartz or granite surrounds custom cut to fit. To be timeless, choose a tile that looks like soapstone but without the maintenance of the real thing. To lean to the modern simplistic, a stainless steel surround.”
There’s also the full stone look that Kaiser says “has been gaining popularity over the years and isn’t going anywhere.”
“For the full stone wall fireplace, the less-is-more principle is in effect here,” she says.
“The stone feature is meant to be a piece of art and the styling can be a wide range, from rich marble or rustic stone. You can have customcut, one-slab granite or quartz or choose cost-effective tile that produces a similar end result.”