2012 San Antonio Parade Custom Firebox

Courtesy of Google Images

If you get an opportunity to come by the Mattern & FitzGerald home to view one thing- please come by to see this.  Our home this year features a Pavilion, which will be a very large room with no interior walls.  Located in the main Pavilion will be the family, breakfast, dining and kitchen areas.  In our case, we will use elements of architecture to visually define the spaces- but the common walled-off points you are used to seeing in a home will be blurred.  I'm very anxious to see how people react to that.  One main focal feature and defining point between the dining room and living room will be this firebox.  What a lot of people don't realize is that fireboxes can be manipulated in many different ways.  We start with a platform, that we build out of wood at a height that is comfortable for the homeowner.  In this picture you see the firebox at ground level, but we are actually raising ours to where the top most part of the box is at 4' tall to give it a more prominent viewing angle from the dining table and living room while sitting.  We also chose a double sided firebox which means you can view straight through it.  The dimension of our firebox is 50" wide X 16" tall,  so it has a more rectangular look and feel.  It also has a ribbon flame feature, which I love because the flames go high to low, and continue to repeat that pattern.  The box is remote controlled, and has the ability to emit LED lights from within when it is too hot in the summer for a fire.  After the platform is built, we build a steel cage around the unit to dimensions of our choice.  We are going almost 7-1/2' wide X 6-1/2' tall.  Then the steel cage will have sheet metal riveted around it and to the top to give it the industrial look and feel that we are going for.  We will then wrap the flue pipe in the same material and have it project through the roof.  Once through the roof, we have a cool feature where we elongate the stack and call attention to it so that it becomes a focal feature as you approach the home.  The Parade begins on May 26th and I encourage you to come by and see this customized piece for yourself.