Hideous Brick Fireplace, what to do with it

[Notwatchingtvtoday]

Hi
We are in the process of buying a 1950s house which has a hideous red brick fireplace in the living room.

We have got to decorate, recarpet and redo the kitchen and bathroom immediately as they are so awful. So advice would be great.

Would you
A paint the bricks the same colour as the walls and hope that softens it 😀
B take it out and put a new fireplace in

We are having the carpets taken up in the lounge and the wood floor sanded, but are aware of time, mess and cost.

Any photos of before and after welcomed

Thank you

Take it out. I’ll find you some before and afters in our last house when we did the same. The bloody brick fireplace took up half the length of the wall! It will add value to you the house to remove it and put something more modern in.

Do you have a pic?
There might be a lovely opening behind it if you pull it all off.

We removed our 1930s tiled concrete fireplace and now just have the original brick opening with a log burner. It's made such a difference to the room. Wish we'd done it years ago..

You could paint it, but my feeling is that if you've got to redecorate anyway, and you really don't like it, then get rid of it at this stage. It might take a bit longer to get done, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Here’s my before and after. Excuse the crappy photos but it’s all I can find in my phone.

Take it out - if you're planning on having work done to the floor, sort the fireplace out first rather than risk damaging the floor. Also easier to get any repairs or replacement work done on the floor in one hit.

I'd take it out and put a new one in, if I couldn't afford it straight away then I'd leave it until I could.

Take it out, I've removed two both sets of bricks came away easily, obviously you'll need someone qualified for the actual fire.

Take it out now, so you’ll know what the floor looks like after and you can get the wall done.

I would take it out now too before you get the carpet done.

Thank you all, especially for the before and after photos. I’d rather take it out, but not sure how long it will take.

Has anyone painted over the bricks ?

I've seen TV programmes where they have painted over brick fireplace with watered down white emulsion paint to give the fireplace a wash effect. It looked nice enough.
But if you're doing the floor wouldn't it be better to do the fireplace at the same time?

Can you post a pic? The pic of the one the pp posted was lovely and could have been a real feature.

Hi unfortunately have not got a photo, but it is very similar to the one posted above, except it does not have the top bit.
We are not going to carpet the room, as it has got a wood floor underneath the carpet which we are going to have sanded and polished, so if it does not really affect the flooring if we take it out in the future.

I think as we have a whole house to refurb and want to get it sorted as quickly as possible the best option will be to paint it to match the wall colour.

I'd remove it. We had almost a who,e wall fireplace, decided we couldn't afford to remove it and therefore painted it the same as the walls. I still hated it! When we eventually removed it, we had to have the floor repaired as it had been botched to fit the fireplace in.
You should be able to remove it yourself then have the wall replastered behind it (if needed) for a minimal cost.

My other bit of advice is to hang on before rushing in to replace everything. Live in the space for a while to see what works and what doesn't. In my current house, we had the sitting room redone immediately so we had somewhere nice to sit, but I wished I'd waited as I would have moved the door into the kitchen, moved the radiator, had plantation blinds instead of wooden Venetian blinds. I'm loathe to do that now due to the cost.

Of the two pics above I much prefer the first one. But then I'm quite old 🤷‍♀️

I just googled painted brick fireplace before and after - you might find some ideas of what it will look like

I also prefer the first one, sorry to the poster. But it could be the chimney that’s adding to it. I’d add a wood burner in it. It is a good feature. I’d not paint it, because once that’s done, it’s hard to undo. I’d do the floor and then decide.

Painting it will transform it and it will be less imposing. However just on mess alone I'd consider taking it out at the same time as doing the floor. If you aren't removing the whole chimney breast it shouldn't take long or be costly. As long as it isn't structural you could bash the bricks out yourself and then get a builder/plasterer to do the finishing off.

Hi Op,
We had the same situation a couple of years ago when we bought a 1950s house.
It's got 2 living rooms, both with brick fireplaces. I remember searching for pictures and not having any luck.
I'm happy to post our pictures
In the main living room, we started off with painting it. It brightened up the room but it was still hideous.
We ended up ripping it out and replacing with a wood burner. It needed brick work and plastering. As other posters advised, we sorted out the floor afterwards.

In the smaller living room, we regrouted the bricks and changed the oven, which brightened up the room. It looks much better so we'll leave it that way for now
Pictures attached:
Main living room
Picture 1- that's when we viewed the house and before moving in
Picture 2 - that's when we painted it white
Picture 3- ripped out and put in a wood burner

The smaller room:
Picture 1 was the day we viewed
Picture 2 is the grouting process
Picture 3 is the current look with the stove changed

Agile madness yours does look better after in both images. The whole sale painting didn’t make it look better.

Thanks @Bluntness100
You're right, painting the brick in the main living room was a bad idea. I'm not really what we could have done to improve the look apart from rip it all out.
I hated going into that room

Thank you that is really good advice re doing the floor first. I know we will end up taking it out in the end, it is really just a case of what will be easier to live with short term.

Thanks again

In the main living room, we started off with painting it. It brightened up the room but it was still hideous.

I'm so glad you said it was hideous!

I remember carrying the stone into the house as a child to build a fireplace like that. It must have been the early 70s.

agilemadness thanks so much for the photos. I agree with not painting it. It really seems like it’s out or leave alone 😀