Insulation and Paint

This weekend, Ian insulated as I painted eves.  I got most of the way around the upper portion of our roof.  Ian was putting rigid insulation in a small area above our entryway.  If it's filled with rigid insulation we don't need to vent the space.  We're in wildland interface, so have limited vent options.  Rigid insulation seemed to be the way to go.  We also went fireplace shopping.  To all my readers out there, please comment.  What do you want in  fireplace?  What would you tell someone at a fireplace store that you're looking for.  For me, it really all came down to "I want a thing that children can hang stockings by with care." That's it.  I don't plan to ever use the thing to heat my house except in a power outage.  So it's decoration.  How do you shop for something that you really hope to never use at a store where the sales person believes he's selling you an amazing appliance?