To think living rooms done have fires anymore?

[OverTheHammer]

So I'm getting quite into interior design and am currently pondering how to do the living room. In my job I visit upto 20 houses a day and I've noticed that the younger, more modern folk don't have living room fires anymore.

We currently have one of those electric "stones on fire" glass wall pieces but IMO, that is dated now!

DH disagrees and says a living room needs a centre piece fire.

AIBU to think fires are "so last year"?

I like them - if they are real. We don't have a chimney or fireplace though.

We don't have one.

70s house.

We're not particularly young or funky.

Fireplaces with a nice mantelpiece and tiles look amazing but they take up a lot of space.

I would never move anywhere without either a real fire, a log burner or a gas fire. If the leccy goes for any reason and it's the middle of winter, you're up the creek. At least with one of the above you can keep warm.

I have a real fire in one room and a log burner in another.....it's great!!!

Oh god - we have 3! One in each reception room. All in working order and a redundant one in a bedroom actually. (So 4). We use our living room one nearly every day in the winter. It's lovely! I don't think they date if they're period pieces. Those fire on the wall electric things are dates though IMO.

*dated

I love our log burner. They add value according to my estate agent friend.

Mine are dated as the house is four hundred years old. 😂 Two living rooms, two original fire places, one of which is a massive inglenook and two log burners. And they are lovely.

Are you talking about fake fire places?

Cannot imagine a home without fireplaces. We have four! If a house was built with them they aren't "last year".

In a modern home without chimneys then of course they shouldn't be there.

Good taste transcends trends.

I think if a house was built with one then I would want one, but it'd have to be a real one. But I don't particularly think you need a gas or electric one if it's a modern house with no chimneys.

I have an open fire in my living room and a wood burning stove in the dining room.

We have three fireplaces (v old house) and have our log burner going every day in winter. It's on today too, bloody freezing here!
This is the first house we've owned with a fire though (one v modern one had a fireplace but no fire), out of about 6 houses.

I agree that it's to do with the age of the house. I wouldn't want to live in a house without a wood burner but I would also prefer to live in a period property.

We have an open fire and pretty much everyone I know seems to have a log burner.

Most people I know here ( old village ) have real fires, and all of my family - apart from PILS have a wood burner or real fire. I love ours, it's so cosy in the winter and does give a focus to the room.
Fake fires can date very quickly, my parents had one in their old house and it looked very 80s and dated.

I have a real fire. Love it in winter!

A bit of a sweeping statement from your DH because it entirely depends on your house design, not about how old the occupants are!

If you don't have a chimney stack for a log burner, which are great btw, because of being in a more modern house, you could go for a balanced flue, if you want to make your living room more cosy in winter. Having a living room fire independent from the central heating saves on bills if you keep the downstairs doors open because the heat from the fire spreads round the house. But it entirely depends how well insulated your windows and doors are.

Living flame fires and electric "wood burner style" heaters are common.

We live in a new build and had a fire put in last year, the house didn't need one but I absolutely love having one !

We have one, and a wood burning stove in the kitchen but we're not in the UK though. Both of my parents in London have them too. Thinking of my UK friends homes, a few of them have open fires. Those that don't bought the house like that, none of them took the fire out on purpose. I thought it was more of an 80's thing to rip out fires.

I would LOVE an open fire or a log burner but the house is only 20 years old. It has a chimney but flat walls and the chimney wall is where DH wants his ridiculously big TV so if I was to put a log burner there, the TV would be sat above it which is obviously a no no. The house is full central heated so we have no practical use for a fire (we never use the electric one we have) it's just decoration. Really wish I could have a log burner but no idea how I'd do it with the TV being on chimney wall :-(

Op I think you need to clarify what you mean. People don't rip out original features so much these days, and whether your house has a real fire place or not depends often on the age of the property. It's nothing to do with the age of the occupants.

We have a log burner which really sold the house to us.

Most houses nowadays are built without chimneys. I think it's short-sighted. In the future, the cost of heating our homes will get really expensive. It already is for many people.
At least if there's a working fireplace, one room can be kept warm.

But regarding interior design, the focal point of a living room has changed from the fireplace to the TV. Space in a room, especially in new builds, is limited and people would rather have room for their (often very large) TV, than a fire.

In one of the houses I lived in, which had been built with no fireplace, I made one with a fire surround and had an electric fire in place. In a close with identical houses, none of the other houses that I went in had a fire. They all had the TV along that wall.

I think it's a shame.

We do have a fireplace in this house, but the chimney needs lining, so can't use it for a fire. Instead, I originally put candles in it, but now have an electric flame effect stove in place, until we can afford to get the chimney sorted and a stove put in.

For us it's function over form, we have 3 wood burners, between them they heat the house and the hot water. We do also cook a slow cooked stew on then in the winter