you are not completely familiar with using a wood burning fireplace I recommend that after you have the fireplace and chimney made right that you do the following. It is critical that you completely understand selecting different woods for fires. They are not all desirable. Proper local sourcing is critical for condition of the wood etc. Understand having a good place outdoors to store your firewood. Be wary of cheap firewood. Don't try to have lots of wood in your basement because of insects and mice. There are all kinds of videos of how to properly store firewood outside. Also understand that a wood fire in a fireplace in a house is a whole different matter than a campfire. Selection of size and quantity of wood etc. is important to understand in relation to what you want the fire to do and for how long per session. Many people starting out use the wrong wood, wrong condition, too big of logs etc. and then the problems start.
Finding someone who is completely familiar, maybe a fireplace firm, to show you the things to do or not do, how to build a fire for various purposes/length of burn etc. would be a wise move. Do not just start building fires without good knowledge and instruction. Be sure of what to do if things get out of hand. Have a good fire extinguisher for your house and a plan for extinguishing your firewood. Talk to your smoke alarm company about your alarms and understand if they are compatible with having a wood fire in the fireplace. Consider CO2 monitors also. Know what to do and how to do it to keep from giving your chimney problems and have an expert explain a maintenance schedule. Don't scrimp. Make sure that everybody in the house knows their escape route in the event of a fire.
Check with your insurance agent that has your homeowners policy and make sure there are no hitches there or if you need to add a coverage etc. A natural wood burning fireplace can be enjoyable or it can be a pain and a possibly catastrophic hazard. It all depends on how well things are constructed/maintained, the wood in the fire and how the fire is built and the knowledge of the people building and maintaining the fire. I've seen it done right and wrong. I've seen people sit in front of a fire for hours reading a book etc. and the fire was consistent throughout because it was built/sized correctly. I've also known of people calling the fire department because they went too big, wrong wood etc. and now the fire is roaring like a blast furnace or the wood was too green and is now smoking them out etc. Don't be that person calling the local FD because you got your chimney/fireplace out of control.
= new reply since forum marked as read