The charm of resting around a hot fire in the fireplace on a chilly evening in winter is enchanting. The roaring fire helps take the nip out of the air while creating ambience. For many decades, fireplaces have served to provide heat and a place to prepare meals as well. Fireplaces have never lost their celebrity and, in fact, have made significant advances in popularity. In my lifetime, fireplaces have been strolling southward where winter seasons are short and summers are long improved over the years, fireplaces are still in vogue|Although the latest advances have been made in climate control for our living spaces, fireplaces persist in being stylish.

With developments in home heating the reason for fireplaces has clearly diverged. They are definitely not about simply heating your home. Nor is it about cooking. Stoves have been around for some time. So why this ever growing affection for fireplaces? My guess is that fireplaces impart mood when they're ablaze. And when they are not, they continue to add interest, focus and character to a room as well as charm. Fireplaces and the mantels that frame them, have been, for some time, one of the distinctive architectural elements that enhance the style of our homes much like embellished stairways, arched entry ways, or ornamental range hoods. These are good examples of a marriage between function and form.

"Wonderful marriage" has to be qualified because not all marriages of art and function are made in heaven. I recently had the occasion to stroll through a home that was about eighty percent done and saw some really awful unions. There was a kitchen island that had incredibly large and ornate brackets supporting the counter top. The fireplace also had gargantuan stone pillars undergirding the mantel shelf. The best thing that could be said is: "Bigger is not necessarily better". Thankfully, there are lots of decent examples of form and function-just not in that home.

Over the years millworks companies have specialized in fireplace mantels. Demand is usually one step ahead of supply And since the "media" of cabinetmakers is wood, most mantels are made of wood-which is fine with me since wood is my "media". Thick wooden slabs, under laid with crown moulding supported by ornate brackets and fluted legs are a common form for many cabinet makers. Not so common are the hand carved kind still offered by artisan carvers in foreign lands. The distinction of these carved gems is unmatched by the latest twenty firstcentury technological genius. The slight variations and minor imperfections are a distinction that says "hand carved" and adds a special charm and unique quality. Mass production methodology will in my humble opinion, never attain to the methods of the masters. Carvers can undercut and form sharp interior cuts that are presently not possible with modern machinery.

Certainly fireplaces and the mantels that frame them are here for good. Like a marriage made in heaven, mantels and fireplaces have passed the test of time As long as there are homeowners and designers that can appreciate the charm and homey pleasure afforded by them, we should not expect their demise. More likely they will continue to grace the homes in the cold North as well as the hot and humid South.