All fire up: Hearth leaves couple with warm feeling

Patrick Franciscy loves his wife, Rose, his cat, Charlie, and the home he built for them in North Aurora.

But if you want to really get him talking, ask about his fireplace.

The gas bill for the 3,200-square-foot house was $207 for the horrible winter we just lived through. That's for the five months from Oct. 10 through March 10, said the builder.

That's because the Fireplace Xtrordinair by Travis Industries heats most of the house.

And Franciscy has two secrets that make this work: He likes splitting wood by hand -- a lot of it. And he finds wood for free.

"Most stuff I see at the side of the road," he said. "Once you have a fireplace you spot free wood."

The fireplace, which uses a catalytic process to burn the smoke so the system is more than 70 percent efficient and pollutes less, cost $7,500 installed, he said. So the builder doesn't think he would save money on heating if he had to buy wood.

Air is drawn in from outside and heated in the fireplace, where a fan blows it into the home.

When the house gets too hot, Franciscy can turn down the amount of oxygen to make the flames lower.

The huge wood pile in his back yard would only last six weeks during the heart of winter, said Franciscy.

"You really have to love doing this," he said.

The classic mantel painted antique white was built by Franciscy's carpenter based on a picture.

The fireplace brick named Silas Lucas has a variety of red tones, and Franciscy said the almost-tumbled appearance is rustic to fit the English country house.

The same brick, along with stone and cedar, is on the exterior.

Here are some other choices that Patrick and Rose, a project manager for Tellabs in Naperville, made for their home. It has a first-floor office, three second-floor bedrooms and 2½ baths.

• The kitchen is open to the dinette and the family room.

"You can be in there cooking or doing dishes and still see the living area and watch television or entertain guests," said Rose Franciscy. "It's one big room."

• The cherry cabinets -- selected for a timeless look -- are KraftMaid and purchased at Home Depot.

"I think you should only use real custom cabinets if your house has weird sizes such as in a remodeling," said the builder.

• The doors in the home are knotty alder, and the doorways are 36 inches wide rather than the standard 32 inches to make moving furniture easier.

• The home has a formal living room, but Franciscy plans to use it as a media room.

• Many lighted niches display artwork throughout the home, and he made sure to add electricity to the platform above the front door in the two-story foyer.

• Drywall corners are rounded so any children who live in the house don't hurt themselves.

• Rose selected the granite countertops with purple flecks to go with the mahogany color on the cabinets in the master bathroom.

• In the family room Rose has decorated with wall plaques from Kohl's, candlesticks found at Target, a mosaic vase from Michaels and a small treasure chest sold at a gift shop at Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles. The large mirror over the fireplace came from Linens-N-Things after the couple looked everywhere for the right size, and a nearby vase is a souvenir from a trip to Greece.

• Behr Paint got good ratings from consumer organizations, said Franciscy, and the couple selected colors to make the off-white trim pop, said his wife.

The main color is a quiet Harvest Brown for the family room, master bedroom and foyer.

Oak Straw in the kitchen and the art niches is just a bit lighter.

The dining room is Hawaiian Cinder, a wine color that Rose fell in love with.

Koala Bear in Patrick Franciscy's office is gray with a hint of green.

Cozy Cottage is even lighter than the Oat Straw to brighten the powder room and the bathroom shared by the secondary bedrooms.

• To save energy the windows are double-paned with gas in the middle and a low-emissivity coating.

• Most of the exterior walls are six inches thick rather than the standard four, but that's because the village requires it on walls that more than 10 feet tall.

Franciscy doesn't believe the extra insulation is necessary for energy efficiency. He said only 15 percent of the heat is lost through walls, but attics really need to be insulated.

• And in the back yard there is -- guess what? A fire pit.

"As a kid I liked fire," said the builder. "I always knew I'd have a fireplace. And I'm a green person, so I believe in energy efficiency."