Do you miss your childhood fireplace? I do.
We had one in every house growing up yet when I got married we suddenly have never had a fireplace in any home we own.
I would love to change that.
Unfortunately we don't have the wall space for a fireplace and the chimney was torn out of our existing house.
Installing a "real" fireplace would take forever and cost a fortune.
Time to consider the electric fireplace.
Here are my basic reasons for wanting an electric fireplace: 1.
Easy installation - instructions are included, generally a beautiful mantel comes with it, you just plug it in and have heat.
2.
Quick heat without chopping logs - forget the backbreaking labor of cutting wood.
You can flip a switch and have instant heat from a fireplace with inserts that look like real wood.
What could be better? 3.
Come in a variety of beautiful styles to fit pretty much any decor - these days the electric fireplace comes with its own mantel surrounding it.
They are available in almost every shade and type of wood, or even plastic and fiberglass.
4.
Easy maintenance and cleaning - remember the days of cleaning your chimney flue and shoveling out ashes? Enough said, that was a horrible job.
No need to do it with an electric unit.
5.
Relatively inexpensive - For a few hundred dollars you can have the full beauty of a fireplace without having to do any remodeling or demolition in your home.
6.
Electricity is currently very cheap in my part of the country - this isn't true everywhere, in some places gas is cheaper, but during today's high priced world of gas I've found electricity to be economical and more efficient.
As you can see there are many benefits to owning an electric fireplace.
If your home has the space I would recommend you go on a little shopping trip to see what's available in your area.
There are also many wonderful websites that have these available.