˙qǝMuǝpɹɐ⅁ ʇnoqɐ sʇuǝɯɯoɔ puɐ suoıʇsǝƃƃns ɹnoʎ ɹǝɟɟo oʇ ǝɔɐʃd ǝɥʇ sı sıɥ⊥ Not cute.

I am just about to build a new house (2000 sq ft) in Canada. The focal point of the main floor is a see thru fireplace and I am trying my hardest to find a model that doesn't just pour all the heat out the chimney. Are their any see thru fire places out there with some sort of heat exchanger fan built in? I would not be very happy spending top dollar on a nice see thru to get no heat output from it other then radiant heat. I was looking at the Town and Country TC36 or Heat and Glo Escape See Thru Model (which has some "heat zone" option but I hear mixed results with how it actually works?) Thanks!

To some extent some of the pros are probably used to working with turn-key situations. One of my instructors in design school said if he was doing a room or rooms with clients he never delivered things piecemeal. He warehoused everything and did an installation of the room all at once. Of course the room might not be 100% decorated a la Candace Olsen on Divine Design but the majority of the room was installed in one fell swoop and not delivered piecemeal. And he usually sent them off to lunch or away for the day so they were not seeing it partly done. When my parents bought their new house in 1969, they started working with an interior designer several years earlier and picked out everything for the house as it was being built. We moved into a new house complete with carpet, window treatments and fully furnished in every room. Not a lot of accessories but the rooms were essentially complete. The only thing they kept was their old dining room set, which never got replaced (and we still have it). People are afraid to do this even if they have the money. People are afraid it will be impersonal and it will not reflect the owner. I don't happen to think this is true, I think a good designer delivers what the client wants. My dad took a (third) part-time job to pay for the furniture. When it was paid for, he resigned that job. This is how most of the name decorators and designers work, they deliver a finished project, not a little of this and a little of that as time goes on (and on and on). So that may be why many pros look at the room as a whole not at the sofa or the wall color as a particular piece. The next two rooms to be done in my house are fully designed down to bedding and or upholstery and the demolition hasn't even begun. I am not a wait and see how this looks then wait and see how that looks and then try this or that sort of person. The room is almost complete before it's even started.

Oh, what beautiful pictures! I really must get ‘Bolero.’ It’s enchanting. Seeing what is still going strong in y’all’s gardens gives me fresh ideas on what to add to mine. :) Still a few things blooming out here. Windermere, so fragrant that this bee just can’t wait until it opens: Gilded Sun: Mr. Lincoln and his extravagant sepals unfurling: Rosie the Riveter: