Craigslist.
Craigslist is a complicated place. So many negative connotations surround craigslist: dangerous, scammers, scary.... ok there is some of that but I have found craigslist to be useful in this move.
We needed a wood burning stove. Like many people in the suburbs I had no idea how to shop for or use a wood burning stove. Why would I? We had a furnace to heat all of our homes. Once we had a fireplace but it was gas. That's not to say I didn't want one. Remember when I told you many people in my life were talking about homesteading and prepping? Would you believe one very important part of those lifestyles is having a natural way to heat your home? I also said that I wanted a fireplace and a wood burning stove and...I found a house that had one. Well...it had had one and now I needed to find one to install.
I visited Menards and Lowe's and Home Depot. Big wood burning stoves that are new are EXPENSIVE! Wow! And they are not very pretty, in my opinion.
The spot in the home that had the wood burner was lovely and I wanted to find a "lovely" wood burning stove to fit into it.
It had to be special and fit the overall look of the house. It had to be large enough so it wouldn't drown in the space for it and it needed to be modern-ish.
Here are some family friends sitting in the area for the wood burner. It is not a small space.
After not finding what I needed in the stores I turned to craigslist. (side note: I looked up wood burning stoves today and found a couple of interesting stoves but someone decided to list "medical marijuana" and that is what filled my search.... see above note about craigslist connotations). Would you believe there are a lot of collectors of old wood burning stoves in this area? If you call them the sellers are very enthusiastic about there collections. It made shopping for it fun but complicated because, again, I had NO idea what I was looking for, as far as heating and type goes.
I thought this style would be "neat" but not quite right for the space and a bit too large.
This one had top cook plates. I really liked this. The price was right but it was so rusty and the wrong shape and size.
This one needed too much work and is the wrong look.
Good condition, right price, wrong style.
That is how a lot of them on craigslist are. I spent a lot of time looking . I found one that I really liked. It was a wood burner from the civil war. It was beautiful and full of potential. Ok...I know what you are thinking....civil war??? Angela the house is not civil war looking. You are right but it had fleur de lis, it was local and the man was so enthusiastic about it. It was rusty but maybe could work. It looked something like this:
So Matt and I drove to see it about 35 minutes from the house. Of course Matt had to come because this was a craigslist listing..... We were greeted by a very fit 75 year old man. He welcomed us into his home to show us his wood burner that heated his home. He told us he feeds it every X number of hours and how much he loves wood heat. He then showed us the wood burner. It was too small. :( However he had dozens more! "Come over here!", "Look at this one!", "How about this beauty?"
Deep in the corner, hidden in the shadows, a black, solid shape caught my eye. He said, "Oh that! That's a 'Yodel'; best company for wood burners. It would be a great one to have and I just gave it a facelift." He said he had just sold one similar but smaller and that this one was $700. Yikes! That's more than I wanted to spend. It had the right look though. He showed us all the really cool features of it. Showed us how the doors slid open and how the engineers created the amazing gears and moving pieces to open and close the doors. He showed us how he replaced this and that and painted it with something that will make it last for ever. He pulled out the -original- owner's manual and told us it was made in the early 70's and a bit more.... "SHOOT!" We brought out Jeep and this thing was huge! The man said, "No problem, it comes apart into many pieces. It'll fit." He said we could have the pretty little civil war parlor burner too for $250 but I had no need for it so we declined.
Matt and I stepped away to chat. We had brought $600 and he told me he brought the Jeep so we couldn't take anything home right away.... :-/ I didn't know that. But Matt also liked it so we made an offer. He accepted! Yippee!
He then proceeded to break it apart and lift this giant with very little effort and help Matt put it in our car. Matt was shocked by this 75 year old man's strength but I guess if you are working with cast iron all the time you stay in shape......
We brought it home in the Jeep and brought it into the house. And there it sat, unusable for a few weeks, until the chimney guys came to install it and clean out all 3 chimneys.
I loved it in the house. It was perfect! Not too big and not too small. Not too old and not too modern. There was nothing gaudy and we could open it to view the fire or leave it closed while it heated all night. Done!
2 weeks later the chimney sweeps came and began installing. If you are local I recommend No-Mess Chimney Sweeps. They were professional, knowledgeable and super friendly. They told us all about how well built the fireplaces in the house were and the excellent craftsmanship that went into building them.
This is the owner's son. They thought the wood burner was "very cool". They didn't often install these styles but explained that the old ones were solid and last forever. He also told us, after ready the manual, it can hold up to 27# of wood.
They told us both fireplaces were custom made and very expensive - not your "run-of-the-mill" they said. They even showed us the mason's mark on the brick inside the upstairs fireplace. 
Downstairs they explained to us that the holes in the top and bottom and around the basement were heating vents that will release the hot air when this fireplace is being used. Cool!
I have one thing to add to this. I love my wood burning stove. It is so cozy when it is lit and it certainly heats the main floor and much of the upstairs. If we loose heat or electricity for any reason we can still stay warm! I can add a pot to the top and boil water to add to the air and I can burn LOTS OF STUFF! ;) There is a learning curve when using a wood burning stove. I'm still not sure I'm doing it right but I love to add wood to it and feel the fire. Matt even bought a flame thrower to help ignite the fire. Ask him about it, he LOVES to show it off.
But....they require a lot of attention. Every few hours we need to add wood. I'm not complaining; I'm still learning.
Craigslist is a complicated place. So many negative connotations surround craigslist: dangerous, scammers, scary.... ok there is some of that but I have found craigslist to be useful in this move.
We needed a wood burning stove. Like many people in the suburbs I had no idea how to shop for or use a wood burning stove. Why would I? We had a furnace to heat all of our homes. Once we had a fireplace but it was gas. That's not to say I didn't want one. Remember when I told you many people in my life were talking about homesteading and prepping? Would you believe one very important part of those lifestyles is having a natural way to heat your home? I also said that I wanted a fireplace and a wood burning stove and...I found a house that had one. Well...it had had one and now I needed to find one to install.
I visited Menards and Lowe's and Home Depot. Big wood burning stoves that are new are EXPENSIVE! Wow! And they are not very pretty, in my opinion.
The spot in the home that had the wood burner was lovely and I wanted to find a "lovely" wood burning stove to fit into it. It had to be special and fit the overall look of the house. It had to be large enough so it wouldn't drown in the space for it and it needed to be modern-ish.
Here are some family friends sitting in the area for the wood burner. It is not a small space.
After not finding what I needed in the stores I turned to craigslist. (side note: I looked up wood burning stoves today and found a couple of interesting stoves but someone decided to list "medical marijuana" and that is what filled my search.... see above note about craigslist connotations). Would you believe there are a lot of collectors of old wood burning stoves in this area? If you call them the sellers are very enthusiastic about there collections. It made shopping for it fun but complicated because, again, I had NO idea what I was looking for, as far as heating and type goes.
I thought this style would be "neat" but not quite right for the space and a bit too large.
This one had top cook plates. I really liked this. The price was right but it was so rusty and the wrong shape and size.
This one needed too much work and is the wrong look.
Good condition, right price, wrong style.
That is how a lot of them on craigslist are. I spent a lot of time looking . I found one that I really liked. It was a wood burner from the civil war. It was beautiful and full of potential. Ok...I know what you are thinking....civil war??? Angela the house is not civil war looking. You are right but it had fleur de lis, it was local and the man was so enthusiastic about it. It was rusty but maybe could work. It looked something like this:
So Matt and I drove to see it about 35 minutes from the house. Of course Matt had to come because this was a craigslist listing..... We were greeted by a very fit 75 year old man. He welcomed us into his home to show us his wood burner that heated his home. He told us he feeds it every X number of hours and how much he loves wood heat. He then showed us the wood burner. It was too small. :( However he had dozens more! "Come over here!", "Look at this one!", "How about this beauty?"
Deep in the corner, hidden in the shadows, a black, solid shape caught my eye. He said, "Oh that! That's a 'Yodel'; best company for wood burners. It would be a great one to have and I just gave it a facelift." He said he had just sold one similar but smaller and that this one was $700. Yikes! That's more than I wanted to spend. It had the right look though. He showed us all the really cool features of it. Showed us how the doors slid open and how the engineers created the amazing gears and moving pieces to open and close the doors. He showed us how he replaced this and that and painted it with something that will make it last for ever. He pulled out the -original- owner's manual and told us it was made in the early 70's and a bit more.... "SHOOT!" We brought out Jeep and this thing was huge! The man said, "No problem, it comes apart into many pieces. It'll fit." He said we could have the pretty little civil war parlor burner too for $250 but I had no need for it so we declined.
Matt and I stepped away to chat. We had brought $600 and he told me he brought the Jeep so we couldn't take anything home right away.... :-/ I didn't know that. But Matt also liked it so we made an offer. He accepted! Yippee!
He then proceeded to break it apart and lift this giant with very little effort and help Matt put it in our car. Matt was shocked by this 75 year old man's strength but I guess if you are working with cast iron all the time you stay in shape......
We brought it home in the Jeep and brought it into the house. And there it sat, unusable for a few weeks, until the chimney guys came to install it and clean out all 3 chimneys. 
I loved it in the house. It was perfect! Not too big and not too small. Not too old and not too modern. There was nothing gaudy and we could open it to view the fire or leave it closed while it heated all night. Done!
2 weeks later the chimney sweeps came and began installing. If you are local I recommend No-Mess Chimney Sweeps. They were professional, knowledgeable and super friendly. They told us all about how well built the fireplaces in the house were and the excellent craftsmanship that went into building them.
This is the owner's son. They thought the wood burner was "very cool". They didn't often install these styles but explained that the old ones were solid and last forever. He also told us, after ready the manual, it can hold up to 27# of wood.  Installed. The kids put magnets allover it for fun. The middle magnet is a thermometer to help maintain the right temperature. |
.  |
Downstairs they explained to us that the holes in the top and bottom and around the basement were heating vents that will release the hot air when this fireplace is being used. Cool!
I have one thing to add to this. I love my wood burning stove. It is so cozy when it is lit and it certainly heats the main floor and much of the upstairs. If we loose heat or electricity for any reason we can still stay warm! I can add a pot to the top and boil water to add to the air and I can burn LOTS OF STUFF! ;) There is a learning curve when using a wood burning stove. I'm still not sure I'm doing it right but I love to add wood to it and feel the fire. Matt even bought a flame thrower to help ignite the fire. Ask him about it, he LOVES to show it off.
But....they require a lot of attention. Every few hours we need to add wood. I'm not complaining; I'm still learning.
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