Fire in the... garage?

I have an amazing husband! I'm pretty sure there are very few ideas I can approach him with that will shock him anymore. It's not like I'm trying to shock him, but by the facial expressions of our friends apparently I am not your average wife.

For homework last weekend I had to build a set in my studio that made the viewer feel like the picture was taken outdoors. The "hero" of the image (the product I was trying to "sell") had to be a food or beverage of some sort. At first, I wanted to set up an outdoor bistro with a simple white table cloth, a bottle of wine (and two glasses partially filled) as my "hero", and some fruit, cheese, and crackers as "supporting actors". After looking around, the scene looked great but it didn't look like it was an outdoor setting.

Somehow the scene moved from a simple bistro setting with wine and snacks to an evening campsite with a pot belly stove, sleeping bags, and Jack Daniel's Lucky No. 7. One of the problems ended up being authenticity. It looked like a campsite, but without the fire in the pit it just didn't look right. So I had to approach my husband:

Me: Honey, if I promise to not light the house on fire can I put a real fire in the pot belly stove?

DH: (sighs) Sure. Make sure you have a way to stop the fire if you need to. And ventilation! Make sure you have ventilation!

Me: Of course!

So the fire gets going, and the smoke is crazy. And even with the garage doors opened I had to pretty much stay on my belly for most of the shots (or go outside to get some fresh air). Considering how much fun I have in building sets in my studio, and creating scenes for the viewer to get caught up in, I'm seriously considering this avenue for photography. What do you think?

Going Camping with Jack Daniels Lucky No 7

The image has been desaturated (color removed) slightly. We see color because of light, so when it is dark outside, we still see color but it just isn't as vibrant. I added a very slight tint of blue to the highlights and shadows to give the appearance of moonlight.

While this is a learned response because of past artists, I am not going to fight this but go with it. Think of any movie/tv scene that happens at night. The overall colors in the scene have cool blues to it. Now go outside tonight and look at something in the moonlight. Is there a tint of blue in it? No. Because the moon gives off white light just like the sun. But we have been conditioned to respond to colors at night to appear cool in color, so I added the effect to make the scene more obvious at being an evening scene.

I was required to have the following in the scene, no matter what set I built: a food/beverage, a metal object, a fabric object, and a glass object. I put the beans in the iron skillet as a supporting player, adding to the "true camping experience". What are your thoughts? Could I have added anything? Do you find anything in the scene to be too much?