The fireplace in Breezehome or Jorrvaskr, the one in the middle of the room. Makes the atmosphere amazing, mysterious, quiet, peaceful.. Amazing dim light for reading a book in the cold winter night, the whole room is lit evenly which is beautiful..
I absolutely love this idea, its like one of the best interior design ideas I have seen in the game (and in general tbh), I really have to congratulate the artwork artists who work for Bethesda as this idea really strikes me hard

I agree, they make the rooms feel so cozy!

The Firepit is nice, but in Breezehome, it takes up too much space.

Where does all the smoke go????

yeah,Its cosy
Like to sit in jorvaskrr and drink nord mead.. Reading a book in skyrim,or just relaxing

I have noticed that a lot of the rooves in Skyrim seem to be unfinished
If you pay attention to the rooves they all seem to have a whole or two in em, I guess it's better then a chimney

I think it takes just enough space to fill up the room. I wouldn't make it smaller.. =)

Maybe an idea for DLC :

Interior design perk tree

When most of us think of a fireplace now, we often imagine a fireplace on the wall of a house. This wasn't the case many years back, a centrally located fire warms the whole room while a wall mounted fireplace loses a lot of heat through the back wall.

An old fashioned version that you would expect in a house such as Whiterun had a large metal hood over it, similar to a modern cooker hood to catch the smoke. They were often used for cooking as well as heating.
This depiction is a fire next to a wall but you get the idea about the hood. This is really what should be in Whiterun since the room is too small for a centrally located fire.
http://www.oldandinteresting.com/images/medieval%20smoke%20canopy.jpg

A more modern version for heat and aesthetic value only.
http://www.malmfireplaces.com/Images/impheath.jpg

No smoke. Fire has all the oxygen it needs to be good and hot. Quite inefficient if you ask me. No wonder why everyone is always chopping wood.

Coal is king. Wood is for svckers.

I like it too. But it has its drawbacks. After my character finished the Savior's Hide quest she dropped the armor in that pit temporarily. When she furnished the house later the armor disappeared. Apparently it burned up, lol.

The moral of the story: do not place anything in the pit before you furnish your home.

I think its proportionate a tad cramped but thats why I like it

Are fireplaces like that called Hearths? Or is a Hearth something different?

Sorry, but I am dumb and do not understand what you mean. Why doesn't it produce smoke, and how is it ineficient?

What I like is that you can stand in the fire without getting burned. I'm sure that's one quick way to warm up on a typical cold Skyrim day; just stand in the fire and be surrounded by the flames.

Perhaps it's a fire pit?

Viking Longhouses had fire pits, not fire places.

Nordic architecture for you. It's like being in the great hall of a warlord. Amazing!

It's inefficient because It's an open fire. There's no way to control the burn. You're feeding the fire all the air it wants so the fire will burn as hot and as fast as it can. Without controlling how much air gets to the fire it'll consume all the fuel in a matter of hours. Which, is why everyone is constantly chopping wood. There would have to be someone stoking the fire every hour or so to keep the fire going. Not to mention with the open pit all your heat would go up whatever heat it's producing is going up the chimney. To answer why there is no smoke is because 300°-550° is the optimal temp for wood fires, it's where all of the wood is burned and it's the most complete burn. Before 300° you'd get water and creosote. Beyond 550°+ it's burning too hot to produce heat this is also where you run the risk of burning your house dow.

I grew up burning wood. Then I moved into my own house and got to the point where I hated burning wood and feeding the cited every two hours. So, I started burning coal and I feed the fire every 12+ hours and much house is much warmer with a lower fire.

Yep, the fireplaces make them very welcoming & communal.

What would happen if you changed the house? Added onto it? Maybe a new room?
I mean in the Editor? What if you changed it and made an addon, then added it to the game, say a new room or two. Would it change anything major in the game?
I wonder that as I watch the tutorials on the editor and how they made a dungeon, then added it to the game.

It's perfect for dumping "dangerous info" 'though.

What? You're not a phoenix then? Isn't everyone a phoenix? What, a human? What's that? I ... I'm lost ...

Hehe, yea, I also find Breezehome very cozy

But remember, no cozy home is complete without at least one cat!

And 5 cats, like in Raksha's Breezehome, is even better!

I actually have to agree with this. The fact that if you walk into the house and straight forward for 10 feet you are standing in the middle of a fire pit.

I love the fire pit idea, I just don't think Breezehome was a good place for one.

The smoke in Breezehome would actually be a problem in real life as the pit is just under the bedroom. I honestly don't think anyone would be living after a night of sleeping there.

Except, you wouldn't want to spend too much time at the pub just to come home and...

the art work in this game is amazing. As an artist myself i am really inspired by the direction in which the art in TES games has gone.

In historical times open fireplaces also served a purpose we tend to forget in this era of electricity: they provided light. Candles were expensive and not very efficient, fires on the other hand... Much better. That the heating was more inefficient than it would be in a stove or something mattered less, apparently.

I wonder more about the fact that Skyrim has baked bread but no ovens...