open fire!

After maybe 2 years of scouring ebay and generally keeping our eyes peeled, we finally got lucky on a fireplace for the farm. 
The house has a little potbelly stove, which does a pretty good job of warming things up, but only takes really small logs, and lacks the 'open' factor we've been longing for - can't see flames, so how can it be warm?

And besides, there are enough fallen trees around the back paddock to feed a serious blaze every night of the year ...
We've been bidding on various copper 'hood' thype things - very 70's, but definitely the right shape for our space.  They weren't coming up too often, and we got outbid on at least 3 or 5 we were serious about ... just never quite got lucky on a sub $300 one within driving distance.

Got kind of excited seeing one not too far from home, with a caramel coloured enamel finish.  This is how it looked on the listing -

 We did a 'what the hey' and put in a fairly serious bid, then left town (and internet access) for a couple of days.  Whadda you know - got home and there was the congratulatory message in our inbox ... ours for $60!
The seller was really lovely, AND had it all neatly dismantled and packed up for us at pickup time.  We wrapped everything up and filled the van with all those bits of flue and chimney that you kind of forget about, and took her up to await installation.

Promise, soon as the rain lets up I'll get up on the roof and cut that hole ... how hard could it be?