Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Our Latest Addition

Remember a few days ago I was moving around the furniture? Well, now I will tell you why...

When we built our home, we put in vinyl flooring throughout the house because here it's either mud or dust. Some of that had to come up this week..







To put down tile...










To cut a hole in the ceiling...
(you can't imagine how this hurt..I thought I was going to be sick!)




To add our new Jotul 500 wood stove. This was the designated spot for it when we drew up the house plans but just now got around to putting it in. We missed getting it in before this record cold snap but feel fortunate to have found one. After doing all the reviews and deciding on this one, we learned that the middle man distributor will no longer be carrying them and it was going to be difficult to get one in..they are built in Norway. This is all in our big scheme of becoming sustainable. With our luck, now that we have the stove, we're probably going to get a Texas Heat Wave. I'm still waiting on the back heat shield to come in.. should be today. Coming out of Maine, we checked the other day and it was in Illinois with the temperature there at 0. Then we'll be able to crank up this lil' puppy and stay snuggly warm.

Happy Trails...




22 comments:

  1. Great looking stove, Berte. Can't wait to see it all fired up and working. I'm praying for more cold weather.

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  2. That's so cool! Rather warm! I love the look of that stove and sounds like you got it at just the right time! You're well on your way to being self-sufficient, girl! Looks like a good spot for it right there in the big middle of your family room and kitchen area/dining area. Love it!

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  3. Hi Berte,
    I love your new wood stove. I had to call my husband in here to look at it and your wood ceilings. He liked them both. The heater sure will come in handy this winter.
    We have an electric heat pump but I think we would have frozen to death without our wood heater during this cold spell we had here. The low teens just was not fun for us or the animals.

    Have a great day.
    Pam

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  4. I love that heater. That should help save some money and help to keep you warm.

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  5. I really like the tile, and cutting the hole in the ceiling will be worth it, I'm sure, LOL....Terry and I were just discussing getting either a woodstove or gas log fireplace just last week...I think we probably will do one or the other before next winter. I really like that stove, it will look so warm and cozy when it's all fired up... :)

    http://horsefilleddays.blogspot.com/

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  6. I love your floor. I have been looking at the same tile. I'm hoping to get my floors done this summer.

    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/

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  7. Oh Berte, honey, it's just beautiful!!!!!!!!! I love that type of woodstove! I sure wish you had it before the cold snap too. Don't worry there'll be plenty more days that you can use it!!!!! Oh it's so nice!!!!

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  8. What? No grass in the summer?! LOL
    ~Randy

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  9. No more worrying about surviving when your electricity goes off, huh! We have two of these that are gas log burners. Living in a big old home with high ceilings often calls for more than central air. Our electric heat went out recently and these two heaters kept us toasty for two days in minus degree weather. I wish they were wood burners, but home insurance prohibits any wood fires in this aged house. That looks great. I'm eager to see the finished room!
    Debbie

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  10. Howdy Berte,
    Another fellow Texan here. Hopping over from Debbie's blog. So nice to meet ya! Hope you don't mind me following along. Been a little chillier than usual this winter here in Texas. You are going to love that stove. I'll be back!
    Hugs,
    Tara

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  11. Congrats on your newest 4-legged critter. lol!

    That wood stove is gorgeous! I hope it helps you with your sustainability goals, too.

    We are very lucky here, because even with the single digit temps and swnoy, icey days and nights, we rarely turn our gas fireplace with the blower on. It does a grand job at heating most of our house and we also have central propane heat, but don't set the thermostat higher than 58F degrees.

    All of our house is passive solar and faces south. The majority of our windows are large and face south and southeast. By the time the sun comes up in the morning and moves across the sky, our house is always toasty warm.

    And in the summer we just pull the blinds and rely on the trees to leaf out and shade the windows. It's a good set-up and saves us a bunch of money in heating.

    And I think we've only used our evaporative cooler 3-6 days all summer long, if that. We keep the windows open and the ceilings fans on to keep us cool and comfortable with our zero humidity all summer long.


    ~Lisa

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  12. What a great looking wood stove! Cutting big holes in the ceiling and walls really hurts..but it will be worth it! :)

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  13. I just love stoves like this! Hope this finds you staying warm! blessings,Kathleen

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  14. Thanks for popping by! The tile looks great and ours stays so cool in the hot summers of Texas, and even if it's a little chilly now you have that fabulous new stove to crank up! My sis has a woodburning stove where she lives in the hill country and it works fabulously!

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  15. It may not be freezing right now, but I'm sure you'll get the heat sheild in plenty of time to use it still this year. It's a beautiful stove!
    Patricia :o)

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  16. The Old Timers at the feed store were saying the Almanac was predicting a long cool spring this year.The Old Timers and Almanac are usually right so you will likely get good use out of your new stove yet!

    Thanks for following me!

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  17. I dont know how much tile you are putting down but I think you will come to LOVE IT! I love my tiles & it looks like you have picked a great color! My tile shows very little dirt & such.
    Your stove.....well if I didnt have a fireplace I would be soooooooooo jealous!!!!!! What a great stove!!! I could think of all kinds of things to do with it...bake taters on the top, simmer a soup.....I love it!!!

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  18. OMG! How cool is that! I would love love love to have a wood stove..or even a fire place... but insurance company said NO! :0(

    I know you will enjoy yours.

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  19. Found you over at Texas Blogging Gals. The Brazos is a beautiful part of the state.

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  20. I've enjoyed my first visit. I moseyed on over from Texas Blogging Gals. The hawk with the chickens....oh my. I can't imagine walking in and seeing that.

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  21. Very cool....hope that beautiful stove keeps you warm! Happy New Year from Houston, TX!

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  22. LOVE LOVE your wood stove!! We are looking for a two sided wood stove...door on both sides and exhaust pipe dead center of the top...if you have seen one like that I would love to know where :O)... found one only so far but it was from a company in the UK so that didn't do us much good :O) ...

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