Create your view with windows

If you are designing a new home, you have the opportunity to set your house on the spot that will give you the best views around.  It is then up to you and your designer to find the way to take advantage of your lot.  We recently purchased and renovated a home that had a great view, but it was hidden.

There is a lake out there, somewhere!  From inside the home, you couldn't see it.

By opening up the wall, and adding a room with large windows, and an open porch, the lake now is a part of the home.

This photo was taken from the same spot, after the wall was removed and the large windows added.

The new rooms accent the view, and the Lake becomes a part of the home.

Hearth for Fireplace—Is it necessary to have a hearth for a gas fireplace?

 A hearth is not mandatory for the building code if you have a gas-only fireplace. But it would look funny without one since we are all accustomed to seeing a hearth on a fireplace. The kind of hearth that is flush with the floor as shown in the photos is exactly what you want. It won’t get in the way of the furniture and be a block in the room like a raised hearth would.