Monday, August 31, 2015

Firewood Storage Solutions

Hi All - I hope you had a fabulous weekend! Ours was BEYOND busy and I am looking forward to a quiet evening tonight for certain!

Something I've been researching since I bought my house is how and where to store the firewood in my living room for the upcoming wood season. I've used wood as my primary heat source for years, and I love not only how much I save on oil but also the ambiance of a nice warm fire on a cold night.


We've got two cords of wood stacked in the garage and ready to go. The problem I have is that I have nowhere to store the wood inside next to the wood stove. The hearth is too narrow to stack wood, so the only options are either to the right or left of the fireplace, with a little rearranging. 




I replaced the antique wood burning insert that was in the house when I bought it with this gorgeous insert made by Jotul http://jotul.com/us/home and I absolutely love the way it looks. It truly is the centerpiece of the room. I'm really looking forward to the first cold night just so I can try it out! (Sorry all you sun worshipers out there who are loving summer so much!)



But as you can see, my living room is long and narrow with not a ton of space to store wood. I could get one of those circular, metal wood rings but it bugs me that it serves no other purpose, other than wood storage. In my online research I decided I'd be making better use of the space if I stored the wood in a console table rather than a wood ring. At least it can be used to hold decorative items on top such as plants, photos, candles, holiday decor, etc. 

I found some photos online where other folks had the same idea. 


Via

Via
You get the idea. So, the search began for the perfect console to fit my needs. It couldn't be too deep or it would be too big not only in the room but also too large for the wood. It needed to suit the style of my other furniture pieces. And I wanted something not too crazy expensive so I wouldn't feel guilty nicking it up using it for wood storage. 

I thought I found the perfect piece here: 


Via
It seemed to check all the boxes. My sweetie had concerns that it wouldn't be able to support the weight of the wood but I thought if need be we could support the middle of the bottom shelf from underneath to give it a little extra strength. Seemed like the perfect solution. So after much hemming and hawing and weighing all my options I placed the order! I immediately received an automated confirmation from the company I ordered the console through. 

Boom! Done. Whew. Cross another thing off my list. So glad. 

And I never heard another word about it. Not a peep. It's been a month. I have attempted to contact the company SEVEN times via phone and email. And I have never received so much as an inkling of a response. Nothing. Nada. Nil. 

So today I finally gave up and got in touch with PayPal to let them know what's happening and to cancel payment. 

And now the hunt begins again. This time around I'm thinking of my sweetie's concerns and looking for a console without a bottom "shelf" but rather where the "shelf" sits right on the floor. Yes, sweetie, I'm listening to you. Yaaaasssss. 

It's not the easiest thing to find. I'm shocked that more people haven't had the same idea for wood storage - it just seems to make more sense to have an item do double duty, especially in a narrow space like mine. 

I found a few options so far but I'm on the fence. 


Via


Via
Via
Via


Via

What do you think? Any favorites?




6 comments:

  1. I'm no help with the wood, we have gas fireplace, but your idea sounds great. I absolutely love your fireplace, the whole room is just dreamy!! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Kim! It is still very much a work in progress but the process is so much fun!

      Delete
  2. I honestly have no clue / what did they do in the old days...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Deb! What DID they do in the old days? They probably just had a pile of wood on the dirt floor next to the hearth! I don't think my wood floors would be too happy with that...right now the little bit of wood I have in the house is still in the wood carrier, sitting on top of the antique picnic basket that I use for kindling. That surely won't suffice once the season kicks in!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like the first one and the third one. I would be afraid of the ones that have middle shelves. The one with the drawers is actually my very favorite, but it doesn't look like it would hold as much wood - which is the purpose! Especially if you needed to load it up for a few days in a row! Love your blog - just found it - new subscriber!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Vickie - welcome and Happy New Year!! I did end up finding a solution that seems to be working - you can find that post here http://www.mountainmamaonline.net/2015/10/firewood-storage-solved.html

      So far, so good - and it holds enough wood for a few days! Apparently the wood stove will be going strong from here on in - winter has truly arrived! Monday is predicted to reach -1 oh boy - brrrrrr!!

      Delete

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking time out of your busy day to leave a comment...I truly love reading your comments and I try to respond to each and every one of your sweet comments right here on my blog page!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
09 10