My house came with a wood burning fireplace.
Since the home has central heating I kind of thought it would be useless and take up space.
Funny enough, on very cold days it is nice to have a flame going. I have woods all around me so gathering wood is quite easy. I made a little container to hold the wood to keep it neat too. I had to update the fireplace a bit since it was so ugly. I ended up sanding and painting the mantel white. I cleaned the inner workings of the fireplace and all the tools. The front of the fireplace was all cracked tile. I replaced it with a marble look leaf pattern. It was a mess cutting the left shapes and grouting around them. However, now the fireplace is a showpiece. It is all white, marble and silver in it. Everyone immediately gravitates towards the heating system since it is centrally located and so attractive. I have noticed that when I host people, everyone wants a fire going. Not only does it look pretty, but it adds a bit of extra heat. Sometimes I turn off my central heater totally and just rely on the fire. If my house was a bit smaller I could totally rely on the fireplace for heating. Yes, it does burn up wood quite fast and I always seem to be gathering more. I might change my mind, but for right now it is kind of fun getting wood for it. I am so glad that I didn’t remove the heating system when I wanted to.