The Pulchra Design Competition, based in Italy, is a beauty contest devoted exclusively to objects.  Each year the panel scour the world for beautiful objects; the 100 they consider the best are posted onto the website for a public vote.  The choice is a little eclectic to say the least; currently up for votes are a Nutella jar, The Stig’s racing helmet and a tin of Nivea crème.

This year’s winner, that Gyrofocus Fireplace, was made by French fireplace company Focus and was the cause of much laughter at its original launch 32 years ago.  It seems, though, that its time has come because it won the contest ahead of a Philips TV, a Sony Ericsson mobile phone and items by French designer Philippe Starck. Almost 75,000 people took part in the vote.

The contest, which was launched in 2007, will run for ten years and at the end of that time the ten winning objects will be placed in a capsule and buried underground for future archaeologists to examine.

That’s gonna be one huge capsule!

Steve Smith and Carmen Ruiz-Perez spent their first Valentine’s Day together last month after getting back together.

They plan to marry in the summer.

The couple, who are both 42, first met while Spanish Ms Ruiz-Perez was a foreign student in England.

They got engaged but found that her having to regularly fly to the Paris boutique she ran proved too much and they split.

Mr Smith traced the address of his ex-girlfriend’s mother in Spain ten years ago and sent a letter but her mother left it above a fireplace and it eventually slipped behind it.

However, she recently discovered the love note and gave it to her daughter.

‘After reading it, I nearly didn’t phone him at all. I kept picking it then putting it down again,’ said Ms Ruiz-Perez. ‘But I had to call.’

Mr Smith, from Paignton, Devon, said: ‘Within two days, I had flown to Paris and we started where we had left off all those years ago.’

He added: ‘Finding each other again was fate.’  (If only he’d said finding each other was grate…).

Not only do fireplaces make wonderful focal points for any room in your home, they can also add to the value of your property.  To be frank, in today’s current economic climate anything that does that has to be worthy of consideration.

In the video link below, (sadly this particular video won’t allow embedding), New York interior design specialists discuss how some design features of your fireplace can add more value to your home than others.

If you can manage to get over the somewhat off-putting style of delivery, there is some valuable information here.

Learn about:

1.  the do’s and don’ts for placing plasma TVs above the fireplace

2.  which room is best for adding a fireplace in terms of resale value

3.  the fuel gel fireplace trend (easy, inexpensive, and stylish)

4.  using decorative mantels and other fireplace surround materials to tie in with your room’s colour scheme

5.  the romance of coal and wood-burning fireplaces.

The flames of an Opti-Myst fire do not crackle and burn like an authentic fire, but nevertheless, the fire still looks surprisingly authentic and thus produces the same feelings of comfort and warmth associated with a solid fuel fire. Dimplex have been producing opti-flame fires since 1988, but, as they say themselves, the Opti-Myst is ‘the most realistic flame and smoke effect ever seen in an electric fire’.

A flame effect electric fire comes with all the usual benefits of any other electric fire – the convenience, the easy installation, the affordable running costs. With many people today leading busy lives, the convenience factor is a big plus of the electric fire. The safety aspect is another big selling point – no more noxious fumes or smoke and ash to deal with.

So, the flame effect electric fire produces a stunning visual effect, but lacks the sounds and smells associated with a real fire. For the reasons above, most people would rather experience the comfort and warmth associated with a real fire without the associated sounds and smells, than have to make a fire every day, with all the time and budget constraints – for this reason, the flame effect electric fire will always be a big seller.

Well, of course, you know where we’re going here!  Today’s electric fireplaces give you many of the benefits of an open fire with none of the usual mess.  Within minutes of getting your new fire home you can have it fitted, switched on, and providing a cosy glow for the family.

Great for control freaks –  you can adjust heat level and brightness by having the flames without the heat or the heat without the flames.  At the end of a long summer day when you want to snuggle up in front of the television, switch on the flames and you have all the cosiness without the heat.  Although, if the British summers of the last couple of years are anything to go buy, you might want to switch the heat on too.

Lots of people think that because they don’t have a chimney they can’t have the cosy look of a fireplace.  Well, perhaps the best thing about electric fireplace inserts is that they don’t require venting, which means they can be placed against any wall, whether its an outside wall or not.   Its up to you whether you choose to inset the fire into a fire surround or just have it against the wall, perhaps as part of an entertainment centre.

Electric fires do not require any ventilation and there are no carbon monoxide threats as no fuel is burnt.  This is also better for the environment than traditional fires, of course.  As with any electrical installation, care should be taken to prevent ingress of water and little fingers.

You should, perhaps, bear in mind that no matter how our technological and manufacturing processes improve, an electric fire is never going to fool the eye into believing it is a real fire; having said that, today’s electric fires and electric fire inserts are a world away from the electric fires of old.  And, most importantly, they give anybody the opportunity of having a warming, cosy focal point in their home.

When it comes to fireplace design, there are several aspects that influence the final look, for instance: the hearth, the grate and the style of the opening.

The hearth is the bit that you see – that is, the outside of the fireplace; the grate is the place where the fuel is burned, and the opening is the shape the hearth makes.  As there are hundreds of variations on each of these aspects, it’s no wonder we get confused!

The Hearth

Let’s consider the hearth for a moment: it can be placed on the floor, sunk beneath the floor and, very popular nowadays, suspended above the floor.

Perhaps your first consideration should be the construction material of your hearth.  If your décor is rustic or natural, then you could consider using glass, stone, or terracotta, whereas for something might modern you might be drawn to heavily glazed or brightly coloured tiles.  Of course, you should take your existing décor colours into account when selecting the tile colours.

Fireplace Tile Design Ideas

Your fireplace should be designed to blend seamlessly with the rest of the room so that it not only creates a natural gathering place for the family but also creates a resting place for the eye.  One way of doing this is by using large tiles so that there aren’t too many grout lines, which would look too ‘busy.’   Marble and slate tiles tend to come in at 12”, which means that you can cut them down to fit the exact width you need.  If you then use the same tiles uncut to tile the hearth, you will create a harmonious effect.   You can achieve a similarly seamless effect by sticking to just one colour; especially effective if you are using tiles of different sizes or patterns.

If you want to add a decorative element, consider placing a slim, patterned, border around the opening of the grate, tiling the rest of the fireplace with solid coloured tiles, picking up one of the colours from the patterned border.   A matching patterned border around the edge of the fireplace will ‘ground’ the look.

How to Tile Over a Brick Fireplace

Choosing the Best Grate for Your Fireplace

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Many contemporary electric fires come with glowing coals, pebbles or logs as well as flames and, of course, the pervading warmth of the traditional fire. Electric fires typically provide as much as 10,000 BTUs of heat – it would take just under 2lbs of pine logs to create this much heat with a solid fuel fire!

Of course, the electric fire suite does not require a chimney or a gas supply, and thus is extra convenient – simply plug the fire in anywhere you wish and the job is done! Common materials for the surround of an electric fire suite are wood, brick, stone, marble or cast-iron, and there is usually plenty of choice regarding finish and colour – this means there is an electric suite to suit any home, regardless of décor.

For a superb selection of electric fires and suites, check out firestyle.co.uk. Firestyle describe themselves as ‘a one-stop shop for the latest in fires and suites at fantastic discount prices’, and they speak the truth – their electric suites are stunning and represent excellent value for money. The Flamerite Austen traditional suite incorporates a cast iron arched multifunction remote-controlled fire (choice of coal or logs), a chunky warm oak surround and black marble hearth, all for under £800.

For the contemporary home, see the amazing Lucca suite. This comprises the latest landscape hang-on-the-wall fire, with a stone effect frame. The fire is remote-controlled and comes in a choice of fuels, and in various colours, and is available for under £700. Whatever you are looking for in an electric fire suite, Fire Style can deliver – a traditional or modern freestanding fire, a hang on the wall fire – the choice is yours. Best of all, little or no construction work is needed.

If you’re lucky to have a chimney breast, turn it into a focal point.  There are a variety of ways to do this, you could, for instance:

1. Paint it a different colour

2. Use a bold and dramatic wallpaper on the opposite wall to the chimney breast, and on the chimney breast itself

3. Hang a large and beautiful mirror

4. Get a piece of glass cut the same size height and width as the chimney breast so that it becomes one large mirror

5. Place a collection of small, unusual mirrors on the mantelpiece

Speaking of fireplace mantels, don’t forget it makes the perfect place to display all sorts of collections; what about: photographs, shells, dried flowers, fresh flowers, pretty antique teacups and saucers, teapots, antique jugs and art pottery

We all dream of sitting cosily around a glowing hearth, but how can you arrange the space for best effect? Symmetry always looks good, although it’s not always possible.  Use ‘pairs’ of things, such as:

1. The same chairs either side of the fireplace

2. Matching lamps

3. Matching picture frames

4. Bring the eye into the centre of the arrangement with one large picture on the chimney breast, or an impressive vase of flowers

When the fireplace is unlit, place vases of differing heights in front of the grate, perhaps mixed with pebbles, shells and pretty pillar candles.

The biggest convenience of an electric fire is that you simply plug in to use – avoiding all the hassles associated with the solid fuel or gas fire. Ash and embers from a real fire literally get everywhere, and this can be very annoying. Also, electric fires do seem to require less maintenance than gas and solid fuel fires – no more having to pay someone to clean the chimney or regularly service the fire. Perhaps the greatest thing is that, although electric fires were traditionally convenient but did not ‘look the part’, this has completely changed today. Modern technology has ensured that those electric fires with flame effects look as realistic and inviting as a real fire.

Regarding the impact on the environment, fires powered by electricity are very energy efficient, thus wasting little heat. As already ascertained, electric fires cost, in general, around 14p per hour on maximum settings, and this means it only costs around £20 per month to use it for four hours every night. Compared with the cost of maintaining and running a solid fuel or gas fire, this is the cheaper option by far.

Electric fires really are easy to install and simple to run, and also very good value – if you want the warm glow associated with a real fire in your room, just turn on the glowing coals on your fire. These can be used with or without the electric heating element or heater, thus meaning that you can have the cosy look without having to use fuel. There is little risk with the electric fire – for example, there is no risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. All in all, electric fires require no regular servicing for their operation, reduce costs and increase convenience.

Conventional gas fires are open-fronted fireplace and inset into a standard sized chimney. The fire draws air from inside your living room to create the flames and the by-product gases escape up the chimney.  Of course, these fires look good but they’re not very good for the air quality in your home because the fire is constantly ’stealing’ air to keep on burning.

Flueless gas fires, on the other hand, are, as the name sugggests, designed to work without any flue at all.  Generally they use catalytic converters to convert the noxious gases into harmless vapour, which is then allowed into the room.

Balanced flue gas fires use an system allows the products of burning to pass out through the wall directly behind the fire while at the same time drawing in the air needed for combustion via the same route.  This type of fire is usually glass fronted and the appliance is completely sealed off from the room.

Power flue gas fires transport combustion products to the outside of the house by means of a fan at the rear of the appliance.

If you want to buy a new fire but are unsure about what type of chimney you have (if any), the quick rule of thumb is that homes built before the late 1960’s tend to have what is  known as a Class 1 chimney, which is the typical brick built chimney.  Homes built after that time could have a Class 2 flue or a Class 2 pre-cast flue. The pictures should help you decide exactly what chimney you have but it is vital that you are certain what type of chimney you have before choosing your gas fire.