SO here's an issue that won't be solved (sadly) before this blog shuts it's doors. (But hopefully before it gets warm out again!)

We built and alcove for the period wood stove that we purchased from the Good Time Stove people up in New England. Here's a photo of it from October:

Love the stove. Excited to use it to warm up the house in the cold months (ie now.) Already waited forever for the special piece to connect the old stove with the modern stove pipe. But when we enthusiastically made the alcove, we weren't quite paranoid enough about the fire safety issues. So, before we hooked everything up and built a chimney, etc, we went overboard and changed the wood borders to stone, thus ensuring that nothing surrounding the stove is at all flammable. We also made a double heat shield (it already came with one for the rear) that protects the three closed sides of the stove, so that even the brick walls of the alcove won't get too hot. With all of that extra protection in place, we're now ready to connect the stove to the outside world, and to have some nice cozy fires in the place.

Here's what it looks like now:

When it comes to fire, you can't be too careful, plus the stone affords us a nice little shelf up top that we can put photos of our daughter, and tiny vases, and sand dollars, and whatever other little things we find along the way. They cut through the roof last week, so hopefully they are completing the chimney as I type this. I cannot tell you how excited I am to put that first log on the fireplace...