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Originally from Japan, Futons are like bed mattresses but used and made differently than in their home country.

Japanese Futons

Measuring two inches (5 cm) thick and filled with cotton and/or synthetic batting, Japanese futons are typically flat and are designed to be spread out on tatami flooring, which is a special kind of flooring indigenous to Japanese architecture. Japanese futons are usually sold in sets consisting of the futon mattress (shikibuton), a comforter (kakebuton) or blanket (moku), a summer towel-like blanket (towelket), and a bean- or plastic bead-filled pillow (makura). This is equivalent to a western bed set. Read the rest of this entry »

A fireplace is a structure within conventional homes that provides heat and serves as an element of architectural style, as they are usually built into walls. In many homes, older and newer, the fireplace is a showcase for social gatherings.

Although most fireplaces are similarly constructed and share common features, the basic fireplace is comprised of a central foundation of cement, along with a hearth, a firebox and unique facing, ash dump and cleanout doors, a lintel and lintel bar, a breast, a damper, a smoke chamber, a throat, a flue, a chimney chase, a crown, a cap or shroud, and a spark arrestor. The structure of the fireplace was incorporated in the designs of homes for decades, even centuries. Today, however, since the fireplace has been replaced by central heating, the presence of fireplaces, where they still exist, seems to be to carry on tradition.
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