What to do with this wall/fireplace/shelf combo?! (pic included)

[boobashka]

We have a seventies house and have inherited this charming brick wall/fireplace/shelf thing.

We were going to keep the brick shelf, create an inglenook where the existing fireplace is by making it a wee bit bigger and then installing this [http://www.yeomanstoves.co.uk/stove/cl5-gas-stove/ Yeoman Stove]]. We were going to plaster over all the brick, into the inglenook and below the shelf.

However our new builder (whose opinion we trust) thinks it will look weird if we don't remove the brick shelf and have the inglenook fire at ground level.

Wisemumsnetters, your opinions please!

We have to decide this weekend whether or not to get rid of the shelf.

Thank you for any advice

[woodstack]

Pic?

[boobashka]

Sorry forgot about the picture. Here it is in all its glory....

[boobashka]

Link fail.

Here's the stove...
Yeoman Stove

[MovingOnUpMovingOnOut]

I agree, the hearth needs to go.

[TondelayaDellaVentamiglia]

lawks, are you seriously not using "charming" ironically?

Is it a real proper brick built fire place? It looks like fake brick tile to me

I'd rip the lot out and hope there was a sensible fire place and review from there, and hopefully end up with something much more like the picture in your link

[boobashka]

To be clear: I am not serious when I call it "charming"!!!

Sorry, my irony didn't come across in the OP!!!

[boobashka]

And it is real brick unfortunately!

[TondelayaDellaVentamiglia]

oh phew! I'd rip it out and start over...honestly

what's with the fire "hole" being off centre, have they done that to set the fire centrally on that wall? It's all sorts of oddness with that off set, but the mantleshelf going right across the chimney breast

Is it slate on the shelf?...I quite like that, you could maybe recycle some of that for a proper hearth

I might concede to keeping the brick chimney breast if I could paint it matt white, but the recess on the left should be plastered. Shelf/step effort MUST go.

[boobashka]

Right - thanks for that great advice Ton.

Yes the off setness is weird. We've been grappling with that. We think that the wooden shelf enhances the uneven effect. We'd have to keep the fire in the same location as it feeds up into the chimney.

[CharliesRedSock]

Oh definitely rip it out and start again. Trying to 'make' something out of it will only end in an odd compromise.
Love your Yeoman stove, it deserves a proper setting

[DancingLedge]

Buy the stove, place it therethere (unconnected), stand back and decide?

I suspect you may then agree with builder. Some people can visualise, I often have to see what it looks like.

[averythinline]

Another vote for getting rid and have at floor level? Are u sure it's a real chimney? As lived in a flat which was similar but it was all fake eg not a ventilating chimney at all so you could get rid of the lot!

[peukpokicuzo]

My in laws have something like this too. Unbelievably ugly.
Rip the whole lot out.

[Lowdoorinthewal1]

I agree rip it out. I would have a similar surround to the one in the link to the stove. We have this and I like it. We then have fitted shelves down either side.

[Floralnomad]

That's a very modern looking gas stove so I'd get rid of all the brick and just start again with plaster . Have you actually seen that stove in real life , it's one we looked at and discounted for looking too much like a microwave oven ( my daughters words) . We eventually went for a Broseley Hereford 5 and it is beautiful and a lovely build quality .

[TondelayaDellaVentamiglia]

you may yet be able to centre the fire in the chimney breast...they often have kinks in which makes no never mind....am thinking if they built up as they did then they may have had to offset as they took out the bend iyswim

our chimney in here has a kink...you have to really crane over to one side to see any light, but the other room one is straight up

[Nikki676]

Is your lounge on the ground floor?
If not do you have another fireplace on the lower floor?

[yomellamoHelly]

Rip out what you can, shelf included. Go from there. Would be inclined to plaster whole lot and to consider putting a chunky oak shelf over the opening once the basics are done and I could see what it was going to look like. Can you cut the slate down and use it as a hearth at floor level over what will be your inglenook?

[boobashka]

Thanks everyone for your comments - really helpful . We're thinking of maybe not going down the inglenook route, but getting rid of the hearth/shelf thing, blocking up the fireplace and installing the Yeoman as a freestanding stove. Thoughts?
Many thanks again!

[GrubbyWindows]

(I really like the shelf, and in fact the whole thing)

[Gingerbreadmam]

id be tempted to rip the whole thing out or put a wall in front of it all and get rid. i couldnt cope with it being off centre but i am weird like that