Advice/opinions/ideas needed for this fireplace…

[AngeloMysterioso]

It’s in my bedroom and it’s a bloody eyesore but I think it’s going to be so awkward to change.

I’d like to put in a proper fireplace surround but am struggling to find one that will be the right size. For example I’ve found d a very nifty one at Habitat that actually opens up to built in storage but it’s only 100cm high which means it would sit underneath the utterly pointless and useless shelf. Which in theory we could just take out, however it looks like it has been fairly comprehensively incorporated into the plastering (as far as I can tell) so I don’t think it’s a simple matter of unscrewing it to remove it, I think the wall would then have to have some more plastering done.

Have added a photo with labels for the many measurements I’ve taken.

Any suggestions?

Aperture
A - 76cm wide
B - 82.5cm high (at the sides, it’s higher in the middle)
C - 36.5cm deep

Shelf
D - 101.5cm wide
E - 9cm deep (I mean who the fuck puts in a shelf that’s only 9cm deep?! What’s anybody supposed to do with that?!
F - 104cms high from the ground

Chimney breast
G - 14.5-15cms plaster
H - 9-10cms brick at the sides of the fireplace
I - 17cm wide / 14cm high / 2cm deep skirting board
J - 125 cm wide chimney breast
K - 130cm wide at base with skirting board
L - 24 cms wide brick and plaster
M - 27cms wide brick and skirting board
N - 121cms w/ 43cms deep slate tiles (a few cms of carpet either side)

I don’t think it’s an eyesore. What about making a feature out of it with a log burner (or electric replica log burner) for a cosy look?

How old is your house as it looks original to me and i quite like it. If you want to put things on the shelf you could just replace that with something wider?

House is around 110/120 years old so yes probably original.

I'd love to find that in my house! I agree that the shelf isn't great though - could you replace it with a thicker one in natural wood? That should cover any marks made by removing the old one. You can get ones with internal fixings that look as though they're floating on the wall.

I would get rid of the shelf. It looks like a painted scaffolding board. Make good any holes and forget about a fire surround. The bricks are fine. You have a feature which is great. Don’t over embellish it.

The cubby hole beside the fireplace is odd though. Do you need it?

The reason I was hoping to put up a fire surround is because the brickwork is filthy and crumbling at the corners so I’d quite like to cover that up, and I just want something there that isn’t bare wall, brick, shelf. But the present shelf appears to have been cut into the plaster so to put another one up we’ve have to do more with the plaster than is within my or DP’s range of expertise (which is precisely f**k all) to carry out. Plus I think a nice surround would look lovely. But almost every one I’ve found is in some way the wrong size.

There’s no cubby hole it’s just a few inches of space either side between the chimney breast and chests of drawers.

I'd ditch the shelf, scrub the bricks and seal them and get an electric burner as suggested by PP. I think it looks great!

the shelf could work well as a picture shelf - get a large lightweight poster in an A0 frame (from habitat) and put it on the shelf.

I'd put a large flower vase / interesting pot plant in the fireplace and then leave it open as it is - I think it looks nice.

but if you really wanted to cover it, you could buy a piece of mdf and cut it to fit the gap and paint it a complementary colour. then have another strip of beading in the same colour to cover up the little gap between mdf and wall, and you would have a reasonably neat flat wall that someone else could open up one day if they wanted to.