What on earth can I do with this awful fireplace??

[2021ishere2021]

We didn't have a huge budget so I made a hole beside the stove to store wood but mostly balance the stove. We painted the brick work a more neutral colour.

I still hate it. What would you do? Happy to spend a bit on it at this stage

Forgot photo!

I’d take a sledge hammer to it all. Make a recess hole in the centre and fit the stove in there.

Yes if you're going to spend money, spend it wisely and knock it out to start again.

I haven't looked into this but my neighbor's fireplace is where the wood is (that is why it is unbalanced.) would that cause us an issue?

I had a fairly hideous fireplace, knocked the whole thing out and the plaster of the chimney breast leaving a brick arch. Put a couple of stone flags down for the hearth.
www.inglenookrestorations.co.uk/different-self-supporting-brick-arches-over-the-years/
Various ones here.
Mine isn’t a huge inglenook but there is a large amount of space around the stove.

If you paint the wood on the top of it and the mirror frame a more "on trend" colour. Then dress the mantle with some houseplants...or fake ones if it gets hot so you dont kill them all

Could you get rid of the wooden shelf bit? Then install a really thick (5" or so) piece of reclaimed timber in its place?

I think you've done quite well with it.
(Sorry, not really helpful☺️)
But you do have got a lot going on. I'd probably get rid of the flowers, the little house thing on the mantel and the object on the top of the stove. The rabbit and the mirror are sufficient.

I would knock it out and enlarge the opening as you haven't enough clearance round the stove. That looks far too small to comply with regulations and the hearth too shallow.. Did a hetas engineer fit that?

I'd put up a bigger mirror.

Oh, I really hate that. Sorry. I agree with sledge hammer.

Get rid of the nick-nacks and paint everything (including the wood) the same colour as the rest of the wall, for a start.
Then you can get a picture of what you're dealing with. In your shoes, unless I wanted to get rid of the whole thing, I'd get a mirror with a black surround, put the logs into a wrought iron style basket on the hearth and fill the space where they came from with books / ornaments.
I don't think the light shade you have is doing it any favours either. Sorry!

Ideally I'd do what a pp said - smash it out, plaster it and create a recess for the stove.

If that's not possibly I'd paint the wood white, all the brick a light grey and have lots of draping house plants.

I disagree with a pp saying it had enough on it...i think it's not accessorised enough to be honest, especially the mantle, it looks a bit unloved.

@Gatekeeper

I don't know we didn't fit it, the stove is virtually out of the hole. We never actually light it (my DH thinks they are bad for air quality)

I'd change the mantelpiece for something much chunkier, and would agree that the mirror is too small.

Turn the big light 💡 off!

Ooh it's bad I'd personally remove the surround and see what you have left

Personally I would strip the paint off as painted stone or brick looks bad and too diy. I would remove the carpet and have floorboards as that’s what would have been making the bare fireplace look out of place. I would also change the ornaments and get a bigger mirror and brighter lamp. The fireplace itself is actually not the problem.

Agree with PP. If you want to spend as little money as possible, paint the brickwork and wood the same colour as the walls. I get what you were doing with the lighter paint but I don't think you'll get the effect you want until it is all a single colour.

Don't do anything else unless you are prepared for it to escalate into a bug project. We had a similar hearth in a 1970s property that we renovated. The builder "took a sledgehammer" to it but it ended up with having to rebuild the entire chimney breast.

If knocking it out isn't an option I'd paint all of it... surround and wall above a dark colour like F&B railings or off black, and change the mantle to thick oak. Bigger mirror and lamps

Bigger more rustic mantelpiece and bigger mirror

Tile it ?

www.thespruce.com/fireplaces-with-beautiful-tile-4153599

Some ideas here.

@PinkGinny

I love the idea of those tiles. That was my first idea but when we moved in 18 months ago it was too hard to organise with everything else we had to do

I was about to type tiles too.

@BiscuitSewingTin

This is what the stone was like. This our neighbours house, I took a picture because I forgot how bad the stone was