Prefab Fireplace; don't knock it until you've tried it

Let me tell you how I ended up opting for a prefab fireplace. I was finally living out my dream and goal of building my house exactly the way I wanted things. I'd scrimped and saved for a number of years in order to afford the whole project. I'd purchased the land and had been working on the design and architecture of the house-to-be for a few years.

Everything went as according to plans as can be expected. Of course there were set backs along the way, there are always little hindrances and such to overcome along the way of larger projects. Especially with home building projects that incorporate several different contractors, there are going to be snags along the way.

That being said, things ran as smoothly as could be reasonably expected. With only a few minor set backs and rain days, everything went pretty much according to schedule. Now, as anyone that has performed in depth remodeling, this is where the estimated costs can get out of hand.

When I first set out designing the perfect living room, I had my heart set on a custom natural stone fireplace. Well, the fireplace was the last portion of the living room to be built. After the custom parquet flooring and natural stone pillars, I'd run quite a ways over budget.

Since I'd already gone in excess of $7500 over my original budget for the living room area, I had to reconsider my fireplace options. Would it still be worth spending even more money to incorporate the natural stone fireplace that I'd originally wanted?

After some deliberation, I decided I'd at least take a look at some of the prefab fireplaces that are available today. I was disappointed to even have to be looking at anything other than my dream limestone fireplace, but resigned myself to be open minded enough to have a look around at the various prefab fireplaces on the market.

Ok, the thing that really helped clinch the deal on a prefab fireplace was the price. I knew a prefab fireplace would be less expensive, but I had no idea how much money I could save until I had a look around various prefab fireplace stores online. We're talking about saving more than a few thousand dollars.

And, I have to admit, the prefab fireplaces available today were not like what I'd envisioned. I think they've made some big advances as far as style and accents go on the prefab fireplaces. I was able to find a pretty little prefab fireplace that complimented my living room design quite nicely. It was also very easy to install.

Some of the other things I like about the prefab fireplace that I chose over a custom number is that I didn't have to wait weeks and weeks for the thing to be built and installed before I could use it. I'm really glad that I decided to check out the prefab fireplaces because if I hadn't I'd probably be kicking myself right now over the huge price tag of a custom fireplace.