Heating things up with an Escea fireplace and Jalapeno Red
From the get-go, an Escea fireplace was in the architectural plans. Fraser Gilly, the architect in question, recommended an Escea fireplace to Andrew and his wife in their first meeting. Similar to other stories, Andrew went online to check it out. It suited their design plans, so it was the way to go.
In a perfect coincidence of the choice of a red splash back, the home renovations begun on Valentine’s Day 2014. Fortunately, the renovation romance was short stint and the build was all wrapped up 2.5 months later.
The family knew from the beginning that they wanted the TV above the fireplace. But it was also important that the TV wasn’t too high. It could have even been the make or break moment in the courtship. The architect and builder banded together to make sure they could make it work – which they did.
Andrew and his family previously had a log burner, despite the romanticism of the traditional log fire, they dreaded Winter coming around every year and the awful wood fire practicalities that came along with it. “Is it really my turn to get the fire wood” was a common phrase in their household.
Switching to the convenience of a gas fire seemed like the obvious choice. The timer was the winning feature. Set to turn on for their morning wake up and home arrival, the family love their pre-heated, cosy warm home. The best part is they can have more than one timer set – something that their heat pump just couldn’t do. In fact, their heat pump has now become slightly redundant. “The radiant heat is just much nicer and it warms the room all by itself. But the dry heat from the heat pump is still great for drying washing”, commented Andrew.
The kids are definitely some of the fireplace’s biggest fans – regularly coming home from school looking forward to curling up on the floor in front of the fire.
Andrew loves that the fireplace is now built into the cabinetry. Compared to their old freestanding wood fire, the Escea fireplace just fits into the room instead of taking up room, and creates a beautiful focal point.
The fireplace can even be marvelled at from their kitchen, as they decided to get rid of the wall and open up the whole space. Using light flooring materials and white colouring, they were able to widen up the area even more. The colouring choices have been paired with linear lines from the floor boards, cupboards and windows to elongate the room.
The red splash back was chosen to add interest amongst the white surroundings. It was so important the red was just right. Jalapeno Red was chosen to spice up the kitchen, which it certainly achieved! What makes it even cooler – it’s one whole piece of glass. They didn’t want any joins in the splash back, so it is the largest piece of glass they could get. And it fits perfectly.
Opposite the glass splash back, is a super impressive stacking sliding door, which opens up the whole kitchen onto an outdoor deck. Sometimes hints of greens come through from the large window area onto the reflective splash back surface. Perfect for brightening up their area in Winter and capturing the greenery in Summer.
Andrew and his family are extremely happy with the final result, even now embarking on renovating the rest of the house. With an aim to create a cosy and welcoming living area, the warm Escea fireplace and the spice from the Jalapeno red wall accomplish just that, effortlessly.
This home was also featured on Houzz. View more photos here: Modern in Mairangi Bay
