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

I'm not really sure* what we could have done

The small fireplace looks really nice though.

You're welcome OP
@SoupDragon - yes, definitely hideous, no other word for it.
We're happy with the small fireplace for now. It's not a modern look but I think it's a good feature

We have a brick fireplace. It was already painted which hasn't made it look much better but we put bookshelves either side so it feels more tied in now.

@Modestandatinybitsexy your after photo looks nice. I think the book shelves compliment the brick work nicely.
I suppose there's quite a variety of options for the OP to choose from, if they decide not to rip it out.

It's funny how fashions change. The mantel above a wood burner look will be old fashioned in 5 years time. It's already getting there.

The Queen's fireplaces never look old fashioned, just sticks with tradition

We had one of those TV nooks, complete with slot for your VHS machine that was bright red brick. Would have been a nightmare removing it completely and we didn't have the money to do it so we painted it to blend in with the walls, and the dark 1980s wood top in white and it really did reduce it down a heck of a lot toward being bearable.

Our hideous stone fireplace was spider central. I'm so pleased we had it taken out. It took a builder a day to dismantle - they chucked the stones out of the window.

I've painted a small one before & it looked much, much nicer. Use a chalky paint and not brilliant white.
I've also painted the brick recess the cooker is in and that looks so much better.

pinterest has loads of ideas & pictures

I currently have this and desperately want to get rid of it, can I ask how easy it was and how much it was to remove and replace with a wood burner please?

@dancelikenoneiswatching - Ours was quite straight forward.
It was done last year as part of a house refurbishment.
We had a plasterer take out the old brick fireplace and plaster the entire wall. Luckily the walls were not too bad otherwise it'll have been more expensive. We paid the plasterer £400 and he also did some other bits around the house.
We then had the wood burner installers fix the flue pipes, liner etc. Installation cost about £1,800.
The cost of the wood burner itself depends on what model or type you go for.
We're in the NW of England so prices may vary.

If you don;t want a fireplace at all then get rid. Do it now while there's a complete mess in the house. What are you going to do regarding the hearth as that won't be boarded... Chimney will need supporting if you remove the structure underneath it and if you leave the opening in place it needs venting.

If you're tempted by a fireplace then think of a way to make it look good - go through google images of fireplaces and copy. Pretty easy to box in and plaster it

Really can't help more without a pic but definitely don't paint the bricks as without fail it looks crap.