Has anyone removed/blocked up a fireplace and NOT regretted it?

[Bucketsofdynomite]

I know it's sacrilege in turn of the century house but I've been looking at my lounge and I think it would seem so much bigger if I had a sofa in front of the fireplace. It would mean taking out the tasteful but dull fireplace and hearth but the chimney has been altered for gas and we have no gasfire so it's just decorative.
I feel like some ghastly person from the 1970s even thinking about it but the idea of all that floorspace from door to bay window is so tempting.

We closed one up in what had been the lounge, but we were making it into a single bedroom so really didn't want a fire place in there, but..... we did open up the fire in what we made into the livingroom and I loved it, we had a real fire in it loved burning logs.

Unless it is going to make a huge difference I don't know if I would. Can you try the room with a sofa in front of it for a while to see if it does make much difference first.

I couldn't live in a room with no fireplace.It always seems like something is missing.

No no no no no Don't DO IT!
if not for you then for whoever lives there after you. Mirage is right - it's like something is missing! Particularly in a reception room!.

Period houses with original features tend to be valued higher (unless the modernisation is the epitome of trendyness). Now if you really hate it... could you get a nicer fireplace?

But even if you decide to remove it... bear in mind that in old houses the chimeney is a structural part of the building, which means it may NOT be removed without damaging the structure of the building, so you may remove the fireplace but the protuding wall would need to stay there anyway.

When we had central heating put in, I asked them to remove our nasty 70's gasfire and mantel and block the fireplce up. I live in a crappy council flat though, not a nice house It did make a huge difference spacewise and it looks fine.

Oh no I'm not talking about removing the chimney breast, just the hearth and surround and plasterboard the hole. If we don't like it we could always have a fancy gas fire 'hung' instead. As I say the existing surround is a nice but dull B&Q-type thing that previous owners put in, it's fine but not an original feature and there's no actual fire/heater. The alcoves/chimney breast is very shallow so we could just fill them with shelves down to sofa level.

I have taken out the one in the second reception room..it is a victorian house but it had a 40s tile fireplace and I now have an antique welsh dresser there and more room.

Get an original fireplace to replace the crappy one and a good quality gas-effect fire thing. Ours was removed from the dining room and yes, there is more space, but it looks like a face without eyes. We have a not very beautiful brick fireplace in the sitting room but having a real fire is essential. We still have the original fireplaces in 2 of the bedrooms but of course never use them.

We took out our crappy one & put in a lovely repro Victorian real fireplace just before Christmas - it looks LOVELY, we can make real toast & we pretend when we light it that we're only doing it to save on gas bills - go on, you know you want to....

Oh no keep it.We are having valuations atm and all teh agents love the fire I have been lighting it constantly and they are all taken in!A room without esp in a period house looks weird

Wouldn't take one out of a living room - it's part of the character of the house.
Ours was built in 1910 and we did take a chimney breast out of the kitchen and the bedroom above - mainly so the bedroom was a decent size. The fireplaces had been taken away long before us, though.

noddy - that's what I thought too and I used to religiously light it every time we were due a viewing. One woman came in, took on look and said' is there gas in this room so we can replace that with a proper fire?' Didn't like her at all and wouldn't have sold her the house if she'd begged me!! She didn't of course...

I am like that if I don't like the buyer or agent I say they're not having it!Not the best way to get a sale

In a period house, I would leave it.