This Old House recently featured the home of a Fairfield, CT, family who drastically transformed their 1953 Cape Cod home after enduring serious renovations, including raising the roof to add four bedrooms and two baths upstairs. Shown here is the former living room, with busy, antiquated wallpaper and worn oak floors that certainly don't help to make the space feel larger. With a little paint, some floor stain, an overhaul of the fireplace, and a lot of DIY demolition, the Kuryluk family transformed the room into an airy, modern space that's up-to-date and stylish.
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It's just starting to get chilly here in San Francisco, so it's about time to start putting my fireplace to work. I love the ambient lighting of a good ole fire, so I usually look forward to those cold Winter nights spent curled up by the fire. Have you built a fire yet this season?
With energy costs going through the roof these days, many of us will be resorting to our fireplaces to keep us warm, in addition to offering up ambient lighting. But unfortunately, it's very likely that your fireplace hasn't been honest with you. In addition to radiating heat while it's burning, it has also been seeing someone else: generating a current that can send conditioned air out the chimney, and effectively out of your room. 
Below is the living room of a woman who's been in the public eye a lot lately. Can you guess who she is? I'll give you a hint: she really needs that fireplace where she lives.
In a matter of six months, Suzy of Studio Annetta bought a house in Australia, moved in, gutted the house, renovated it, and then moved out. The house has since been sold, so she'll never get to enjoy her beautiful renovations, but you can! Shown here is the living room fireplace, a red brick eyesore with a Chinoiserie mirror on the mantel. 
November is an ideal month for lighting a fire in your fireplace. A crackling fire adds a cozy ambiance to a dinner party, and it's also a perfect way to kick back and enjoy a romantic evening with your honey. Nobody likes to fuss with getting a fire started, though, especially when you're entertaining guests.
When it comes to most of the products I recommend, finances are usually the only thing keeping you from taking them home. OK, maybe your husband would be opposed to 
In some homes (um, including my own), the fireplace mantel, which is often the main focal point in the living room, is piled with photos, candles, coasters — you name it. While it's a logical place to display knickknacks and mementos, often this excess can look cluttered. On the other hand, a spare mantel often looks naked. 
You can't have an 
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