Really nice. For your home, either the Princess or Ashford (with or without the enamel) would have looked great. You've got such a nice, simple but traditional looking place, it would have been hard to go wrong. That Virginia coast line is pretty.
Did you say you went with the Princess because it has more heating capacity than the Ashford? I thought they were pretty comparable.
I think that the Princess and the Ashford 30 are pretty comparable. I'd have to go look at the specs. BRB.
Yes, the Princess has a slightly higher capacity than the Ashford 30- it heats a larger square footage, it puts out more btu's, has a slightly larger firebox, and has a higher efficiency than the Ashford 30. The Ashford 30 beats the Princess in terms of EPA particle emissions standards, so if you are in a place where thermal inversion layers are common and localized particulate air pollution are closely monitored, an Ashford could potentially help you in that area. If you are trying to proactively meet the upcoming EPA standards (even though we hear that the EPA doesn't plan to make those standards retroactive) then the Ashford works for you as well. We are in the opposite situation in terms of thermal inversion. It can't get much flatter than flat sea level, and the wind in the winter is remarkable. Stagnant air is not a problem here.
I do think the Ashford is a prettier stove. I especially like the enamel finish. It is gorgeous and it would look nice in our setting in either brown or blue. Heck, for that matter, I loved the Ashford in satin black. I did seriously consider it.
The satin black Ashford 30 would have been about $575 more than the Princess Parlor. The brown or blue enamel Ashford would have been $1214 more than we paid for the Princess Parlor. We talked about it seriously- we really, really liked the Ashford design. Installation costs would be the same, and we don't buy wood stoves every year. We wanted to be happy with our purchase. In the end, I could not justify paying more money for less stove, particularly when I know the heating challenges here. I would have kicked myself mightily if we'd paid the extra installation costs to have this (especially accommodating) stove shop come over the mountain and through the woods way out to rural coastal Virginia to install a Blaze King, because we really wanted a Blaze King, but when all was said and done I went with style over function and we didn't have *quite enough stove.* The guys who own the stove shop felt like the Ashford 30 would be plenty of stove for our application, but per above, our pellet stove experience schooled me about having a little more capacity than you think you'll need.
Thank you for the compliments about the house. It is truly a dream come true for us. I grew up with family who had simple rustic cabins on this river. I spent many happy times in this area. My husband and I met at that time in my life, and he grew to love this place as well. Time moves on, circumstances change, and we lost our connection to this river for many years. In the meantime, real estate prices escalated rapidly, especially anywhere near the water, and we couldn't see a way that we'd ever get back here.
We downsized in 2006 when our kids moved out to a small empty nest bungalow in town. The bungalow was a fixer upper and we got it at a very good price, considering how hot the real estate market was still running at the time.
As real estate prices plummeted after the bubble burst, we decided to try to find the place to which we hoped to retire while real estate was on sale. It took a while; we had to decide what we wanted and most importantly where it should be. We considered various small towns up and down the eastern seaboard. We were camping at a nearby state park, sitting on the porch of the visitors center looking out over a wild flower meadow and the river, when I looked at my husband and said, "What's the matter with us? Why are we looking so far away? Why not here? We love this place!" We started looking up and down both sides of this river. It took us a little over a year to find this place. It has what we need, what we want, and because the builder got stuck with the house when the bubble burst, the price was within our modest budget. We aren't water front but we have a nice view. The neighborhood has a little beach, a pier and a boat ramp.
We furnished this house almost entirely from Craigslist, thrift stores and consignment shops. What few things we couldn't find second hand (or wanted to purchase new- bed sheets, towels, etc.) we found at big box discount stores. Believe it or not, the two plaid chairs you see in the picture came from two different second hand sources- one from Craigslist and one from a consignment store. They are the exact same fabric- a wing chair and a skirted side chair. I couldn't believe it.
Anyway, thank you for the compliments!
