I feel like the cultural collective has decided against our normal sense of aesthetics in recent years. While there was a distinct cleanliness to the indoor fashions of the 2000s, something happened as my associate and I moved towards the 2010s that greatly impacted our interest in olde timey wares, then suddenly, new design was less modern, and more primitive. There have been so various trendy throwbacks to steampunk, farmhouses, and turn of the century designs that it can be head spinning. I believe that’s not necessarily a awful thing, especially if you value things being made the way they used to, for instance; I’ve always been drasticly opposed to owning and operating a fake gas fireplace. I suppose that the narrowwall models of fireplaces which started coming out in the late 90s and early 2000s are hideous atrocities. They produce plenty of heat, sure, but they don’t trick the eye into believing that there is a roaring fire in the vicinity. Instead, these fireplaces look like fat cable screens with janky torch lights inside. This week, things seem to be improving on the fireplace front. There is a newfound appreciation for woodburning fireplaces plus traditional stoves for heating purposes. Kids these afternoons are less interested in the immediate gratitude of a gas-powered flame and far more drawn to the aged school fires that used to keep our ancestors alive all winter season long. I have to say, although there is more labor that goes into maintaining a traditional wood burning stove or roaring fireplace, it’s worth it in the long run when your mood and biweekly bills are vastly improved.