You know what? Now that I've seen this photo, I think you should remove all plaster and everything from the walls on both sides and reveal the bricks or stone out of which the walls are made of. It would give a rustique look in the room and I don't know whether you would like it or not, but it would be very cozy and welcoming... It you do not wish to make a big fuss about it, you can do it halfway up or aligned to the mantel line. Whatever the case, please post pictures of the final outcome. I'd really love to see it!

Take away the dark wood and build in a wood storage. See photo

M Somero ... WOW ... and WOW ... I am awestruck. I have not attempted anywhere near what you've done. I found out early on when doing the underside of my porch stairs that down on my back with limited space between me and something above me was NOT where I ever intended to be again. I am not retired yet (but close) and I remember back in school that 'shop' classes (while not totally off limits to girls) ... well, you were considered weird to want to sign up for them. Of course, back then, girls were not allowed to wear jeans/pants to school. and they call them the good old days ... RightYeahSureUhuh. LOL ... (first time my daughter said LOL to me, I thought it meant Lots of Love ... (I prefer my meaning).

anyway ... keep on messing around with the men's minds. In some cases, it isn't too difficult ... I think I'll go and ask some guys here about 'screw depth' and see their reactions. LOL

Sister Builders of the world ... tear something down or build something ... it's lots of fun.

suggest you find the excellent home restoration contractor in your area, within a 100 mile radius. then discuss at length the time lines and costs of the various options of restoration and renovation. What is there right now can just be painted the same as the trim or as the wall color for the time being. I had an electric FP insert put in a 100 yr old house in Atlanta. could just be lights so it looked like a real fire or could use the heat option. These are short term fixes, inexpensive improvements so you are happy in the room while you are making your decisions about how much to spend and how far you want to go. Unfortunately it seems that your house has been "remuddled" by some DIY fool. Only you can make these decisions. There is a woman who does a restoration show on HGTV, Nicole Curtis does remarkable work. also someone mentioned earlier that you needed someone to evaluate the "new" windows that were drafty. I strongly encourage you to have these checked. I have installed new double panes in several houses, using both wooden from Marvin Windows and Vinyl from Jeldwen, and they do not have a draft when properly installed. Sounds like more wretched DIY work from the previous owner. If you have lived there only 5 months, I would suggest that you do nothing except the painting and window fixing, until you have lived there at least a full year. Do the painting for your visual comfort. Do the windows to increase the function, .... more quiet, cooler in summer and warmer in the winter, then invest your energy into noticing what you want and need and how it fits with the existing house. I have renovated and restored and redone 14 houses. I have found that even tho I am well experienced etc etc, I still find the plans I come up with after living through the seasons in a house will CHANGE from move in to living in a year. best luck. the house appears to have a history and a good spirit, and will surely welcome your family.

acm and kristinanandreau have some solid pointers. Depending on your budget and alternative heating sources for that room, you may want to consider the option of removing the fireplace altogether. This may free up some space in an otherwise small area and additional space above that room also. This option could work for you if your chimney isn't also the vent for your furnace and/or water heater. I remodeled a house where the entire chimney was removed down to the first floor and two levels of the home were able to improve their living space. Live there a little bit and envision what it would be like with and without that large, oddly located, DIY looking eyesore. You'll be surprised what the rooms may look like by pacing yourself and creating different options to pick from; kinda like HGTV, but actually - amadeus157...

One way to give this fireplace a new look would be to install stacked stones surrounding the opening like this one Floormax just completed in Maryland. It really updates the look of the room while providing a stylish element.

If you decide to open it up to expose the brick, make sure the brick is nice and uniform. (We assumed it'd be the same throughout the house, but it wasn't.)

We first discovered the lovely Chicago pink brick in the kitchen. The plaster came off pretty easily, once you figured out 'the touch' with a chisel and hammer. Still loving it after nearly 20 years.

A few years later, we knocked off the plaster on the staircase wall. That was a messier job – needing a wire brushing (on a drill) to clean it up – but, it was totally worth the hassle.

Then we got greedy... Removed the plaster on the opposing/outside wall, but the brickwork was completely different; the mortar was lumpy and messy. It would've been a huge job (for a professional mason) to make it look decent.

All that being said about the brick, I agree with several of the comments – a quick painting would give you an entirely new look (for very little $). You might just love it!

You have lots of comments here, so I will just add a few short things. Pictures of wood stacked alongside the fireplace look so nice, but anyone who has stored wood in their home knows that it increases the number of bugs that you have. It's a very nice place for them to live. Just food for thought if you're thinking about that.

I know it's tough to decorate in a room with so many doors, there's no place to put anything! Have you considered changing the door to the right of the fireplace to open the other way? That would make it so you don't have to stick your nose into the corner to open that door.

A few commenters have mentioned that they had bugs when they stored wood inside their living space, but I've done it and didn't have that problem -- and I lived in houses with bare floors with clear space under the furniture, so it's not like I wouldn't have noticed! For a decorative scheme like the ones pictured here, I would fill or half-fill the decorative space with professionally kiln dried wood that was evenly chopped, and leave it there -- and burn the stuff collected from the yard (which you can store outside).

OMG, don't paint WOOD!

Barely there decorations first. You see the beauty of the piece and decorations can make you feel nervous when there's too much stuff. You can stain the fireplace another color, but whatever you do make it match the wood in the ceiling. Ceiling same color as wall, can the door become a pocket door or go away entirely?

Wow...so many comments! Thank you everyone. It's going to be hard to respond to everyone that I'd like to. Working up from the bottom - Cheryl Biermann in response to your question about the doors. Both doors lead to full size bedrooms and there is a full bathroom back there. Since they are connecting rooms maybe taking one door away would make sense. We envision updating the house. We even talked about moving the fireplace to an outside wall. It doesn't serve a purpose at all - it ends in the attic and no longer goes out the roof. Take the two side rooms and make them part of the living room. Must remove some walls!! We have a lot to learn and saving to do before we tackle these big ideas we have. To Change of Art® I love, love, love the exposed brick you've shown in your post. I love seeing different elements in a room, whether it be fabrics, wood, metal, brick. If this fireplace was partly stone/brick that would make me happy. kristinanadreau We will address the drafty windows-very important. I do think we need to do something temporary and live in it for at least year. All very good advice! I know a few people have mentioned the bugs in the wood and I have kept wood in the house before. It was wood that had been sitting outside, seasoning itself and it collected spiders. We have the brown recluse spiders here in CT and they love living in the wood piles. Put a few of my friends in the hospital from their bites. We just recently placed a small bundle of wood inside the fireplace, just for looks, but we purchased it at the grocery store, hopefully nothing will be popping out of it any time soon!!

To Creative Home Engineering I loved the secret passage way. Made me smile! My husband and I talked about putting in a secret door to the half bath that connects to the room that will be part of the kitchen...one day. Make it look like a bookshelf. But, then I fell in love with the barn doors and I'm pushing for one of those instead. :o)

1890...beautiful home. Sheraton style furniture would be perfect for your decorating scheme. Take a look at Charmean's gorgeous interpretation of Sheraton feel in a home.

https://www.houzz.com/photos/charmean-neithart-interiors-llc-traditional-living-room-los-angeles-phvw-vp~836156

Another "Sister Builder" here :)

I can guess that if your floor joists upstairs are at 24 inch center, which many were back then, this part of the wall may be providing structural support for something upstairs, maybe in the bathroom. The reason I think this may be the case is that the fireplace juts out of the wall almost two feet even though the fire box is only a foot deep. There is some reason why the firebox was not set back against the wall, and it may be that the upstairs needed additional support. You don't say if the two concrete "foundational supports" that come from the basement extend up through the second floor. If they don't, then the builder likely built the fireplace structure like a closet to handle the upstairs load. I agree that the wooden facade was done poorly and is way too dark and heavy for the room. My inclination is to tear it all down, but not before you make sure it is not needed. You would not want the upstairs to cave in.

Once you have determined that you don't need the structure, please do get rid of it. To paint it will only accentuate the gaps, bulges, pocks, and seams, unless you take more time to putty, seal, and sand everything. If you have to have it, then take the time to do all this right, paint it the color of your wall, and you are done. The design is pretty in the photos, it just needs to be done with better work(wo)manship.

If you decide to clear the wall,

1. Find out how the fireplace can be made workable, even if it's just a pipe. If all you can get is a pipe, then you know you can only put in a stove. Whatever is determined at this point will let you know what to do from here on.

If it's a stove, you now have an entire wall to decide where to put it, and you have more floor space to determine your traffic flow.

As a builder who like to keep the character of an era intact, I also realize that sometimes when additions are made to the property this is not possible. This is when we try to compromise the old with the newer and come to a visual agreement that satisfies the dilemma of making the home look cohesive. In our home we have a guest bedroom and hallway that provide a "transitional space" between our 50s bungalow and its 90s barn structure addition.

2. I have the impression you want a fireplace, so try to open up the firebox back to the wall to give you more floor space, or opt for a shallow firebox with gas or electric options. If you need to stay within the two "foundational supports", then make sure you have a good hearth. Those blocks on the floor right next to the wood floor are ridiculous. My guess is that the hearth was removed because it took up so much floor space in the room and impeded the flow. If there is anything you can do to remedy this, it would benefit you down the road.

3. Now if you have to keep the foundational supports, and the new fireplace has to jut out about two feet from the wall, my next suggestion would be to move the door on the right at least one foot to the right. I assume there is a staircase along that wall so it cannot be moved but so far. If you can eek out a foot of additional space along that wall to the right of the fireplace, it would help your flow pattern. (And being so experienced, you know it's nothing to move over a doorway!)

4. If you want to save money, try to salvage the bricks and stone from your demo and use them for your rebuild. Prepare to spend evenings removing mortar, but if the bricks are old, they will be much stronger than the new crappy bricks that are made today. If you like the look, your fireplace can be whitewashed and/or spot-sponged with your wall colors to provide a unique look to the facade. (The former owner to our house had painted the red brick fireplace harvest yellow. I used a rotary wire sander on a drill to remove 90% of the paint. This made the brick look as if it was aged.) Along with a clear sealed wood mantel, this makes for a lovely vintage look, and will make the fireplace appear to recede with the wall, and allow your room to appear bigger.

Please keep us informed as to your progress, this project is one of my favorites, and I would love to see what you do with it!

I think that the fireplace and surround are overpowering the room, and that if you remove the surround, and possibly the fireplace itself, you will be amazed at how much it opens up the room, and at how much you don't miss it/them. Good luck!

The room is charming and has so much potential! Here is what I would do to keep the charm of the house without costing you and arm and a leg! I agree with all to remove the fireplace surround. It is not original to the house and just doesn't go with the interior. Once you have done that, make your decision. You can always check out salvage shops for a surround that matches the period of your house or just go with a new one. If you have gas hookups, it is not that expensive to run a small pipe off to the side of the house and make it a gas fireplace. I would remove the tv stand and hang your tv as it also takes up too much space. Then, you could add a small shelf under the TV for your components or hide them in the insert to the right of the fireplace. Refinish the floors. Add a smaller rug as the one you have might be a bit too big for the room. A smaller couch and chair are key here. White shutters on the windows instead of curtains. Paint ceiling a lighter color of your wall paint, and maybe paint the ceiling moulding a tad darker. A nice glass coffee table would be perfect and don't worry about the cats. The glass will be thick enough. When all is said and done, this will cost you between 6-7K if you go with the gas insert.

Wow...one big fireplace,not working, for me not good. The history lesson per one reviewer was great. Honestly, we have 3 huge Rock Fireplaces and I can't imagine liv I ng in a house again without one. We put a Pot Belly insert in the fireplace in the famRm, and a Pellet Stove insert into the fireplace in the Master Bedroom...that is Our Favorite. Pellet Stove has a plug to work the worm to fill the firebox but runs on low electricity. We added a thermostat remote thing so when the room gets below 73 the Stove kicks itself on...love that. Or just shut it off in the warm months. Your fireplace is far too big per the pic's for the size of the room. The rest of that room is charming...the pale yellow walls are cheerfully welcoming. Behind the wood pic seems to be a Weight bearing with the concrete pillars/rock/brick made longer with the addition of what looks like plywood horizontally applied...? This needs to have a Licensed Contractor to see really what is going on there b4 you tear more out. Honestly, b4 you take advice from all or any of us...get a Contractor..and check out his license and Insurance,Reviews etc b4 he or she does any work...been in that sinking boat myself. It was a nightmare.

ps..I love the clock on the fireplace.

Roni Filla I'm so glad you love our clock. We moved it up and it looks better. It's the only thing distracting me from that huge brown block. As we did when we first saw it, some people think that there is a storage cabinet of some sort to the right, but it's just a solid wall. The support pillars on each side of the firebox are granite. They do not lead down to the basement nor do they go to the second floor, but they are large and look very heavy. I'm thinking it will take a lot of effort to move them. There is another fireplace directly behind this one that is in the bedroom. It's white and has a huge mirror on the mantel - I will take pics when I get home from work and I'll post. I'd love to reclaim the brick to build a proper fireplace and maybe open up the room by taking out the two side bedrooms. We will take some of the advise given here as a temporary solution until we can come to a decision and decide on how much money we can spend. We will be contacting a contractor/professional with good credentials - good advice! This ongoing discussion has helped us greatly to determine as to what direction we should proceed. Thank you everyone!!!

I would say that the panelling is the nicest feature of that room. Making it feel cosy. As the fire is rather stuck in a corner, I would question if the wall to the right is original or a later addition. A large fireplace would normally be central. Talk to a change money sweep about the viability of a gas fire.

Re decor; I would take a look at Abigail Ahern's use of colour to add to the cosy vibe. I would leave the fire surround in the dark wood colour, sympathetic repairs will add the the character. Then go with a dark blue on the walls accented with copper tones. I would hide the TVs in a cabinet and put a gilt framed antique mirror or artwork above the fireplace.

i love th clock but would say it's more of a kitchen clock than overmantle.

'Chimney' not change money.

If the other walls were darker ie dark blue (particularly the wall and door to the left of th fireplace) the dark wood would look more part of the the room. Less a dark block on the corner. Try it, paint is cheap and I have a feeling that fireplace will sing.

I really love the look of wood painted dark blue with coppery accents. I've got a lot such ideas saved to my ideabook, looking forward to the next home purchase.

We suspect the rooms to each side of the fireplace were added later. I'm really liking the dark blue colors inspirationseeker1 and ital mover as I am seeing it in pictures. We are leaning towards a blue/gray color. My husband and I have been discussing all the posts/ideas and what we'd like to do. We took some pics of the fireplace in the back room behind the living room. This fireplace is directly behind the large one in the living room. It is so very different from the large living room fp.

Lots of handsome fireplaces in your home!

Here are some other dark blue wood pix:

I think the surround on the second fireplace is nice. However, the mantle does not seem in proportion - I would think something more substantial would work better. I would do something that didn't involve having two sets of supports - right now there is one set under the mirror, and another set under the mantle. I also would do something with the brick - paint it? Replace with tile? You have the bones for something amazing, and I am sure you and your husband will enjoy making this home into something which reflects your taste.

A light fixture could be really lovely on the fire place! We are the oldest open flame/electric copper lighting company in the
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if it was me...keep the fireplace. Do what you have to do to make it safe and functional....then worry about the rest. if you hate the "facade" rip it down and do it YOUR way whether it be stacking stone, marble, granite...whatever. Make a kick ass mantle that screams your taste and enjoy!

You have a beautiful room and fireplace., although he fireplace looks a bit lop-sided. I'd remove the right-side paneling. Your floors are dark, so everything blends and nothing really stands out. You could also remove the top portion of the fireplace and then think about a subtle finish like a light antiquing (think English stone fireplaces). That way you could better see and appreciare that lovely fireplace.

The look is quite baronial. If the whole room was wood-panelled, it could look cozy. Right now, the fireplace appears out of scale with the room. The columns are really overkill.

I really like the asymmetry. For me, I would use a stain slightly lighter than the existing color to even out everything but still retain some highlights. Then use a wood wax (like you would use to seal chalk paint). This will add a soft luster. I agree that the clock does not fit. Use a painting or scrolling iron or copperwork piece to add a focal point. If you want a clock use a repro mantle clock in the correct scale for the fireplace. I also vote in favor for a modern, safe and dependable fireplace insert. They are much more efficient and cost less in terms of insurance than fixing the existing chimney.

It is pretty hard to "keep the fireplace" if the chimney stops in the attic...first thing I noticed, besides the obvious, is that the ceiling is directly over the tops of your windows. I'll bet they dropped it in the seventies..."the decade when fashion and historic preservation were forgotten." They probably added the immense fireplace surround then as well. So, investigate the ceiling height first. You can do this by measuring the current height and in your stairwell, take a look at how much space there is between floors. I love a huge fireplace, but not in such a small room, and not from the 70's. You should just find a fireplace surround design that you like, the simpler the better, and go with it...and go with gas. That solves your chimney problem and you can keep the massive granite firebox, which is rather cool...someone went to a lot of work to make it. The stones were probably salvaged from an historic site. Good luck.

Use the wall with the fireplace as a backdrop instead of a focal point. I think it would keep that cozy feel, but tame its beastly size and make it less overpowering. Paint the walls darker to soften its presence. If you want it to feel like an open space or give it a cottage feel, paint the entire fireplace a lighter color. Sanding and staining it lighter would help and it wood preserve the wood, but that is a lot of work. Lighter doesn't mean it can't be cozy at the same time.

It seems as though the suggested solutions for your fireplace have gone quite far afield. I am offering a solution that I hope lives well within the borders of what is practical and at the same time respects tradition.

To my eye, the problem with the mantel and surrounding panels is as much one of value as size. It appears from the photos to be much darker than any other part of the room and, as such, only exacerbates its domination. I have attempted to introduce a wall color that touches the middle ground between the fireplace and the rest of the room thereby allowing a great portion of the dark wood to stay that way.

Unsolicited advice: If there was ever a situation where a big screen TV need to be neatly tucked away inside some sort of period piece, this is it.

Just a comment unrelated to your fireplace. You mentioned in one post that your upstairs bathroom has a step up that you were unsure about. I lived in an old apartment that was built in 1905 or so, before indoor bathrooms were common. When the plumbing was installed, there was no room to put the pipes etc, so they were run on the original floor and covered by a raised floor in the bathroom. I suspect that may be the case for your home as well. Your ceilings may have been dropped to cover other updates like heating lines etc. It's fun finding out what has been covered up over the years - I found out that my old toilet had a copper-lined oak tank on it! It looked beautiful when the paint was stripped off.

Paint the paneling around the fireplace, leave the fireplace stained - that way it will stand out from the weirdly shaped paneling that is the same color as the fireplace.

Architecturally, your fireplace is lovely and historic; but because it's such a dark brown, it appears to be way more massive then it actually is. It dominates. I would give it a pickled gray wash look to tone it down. I would also paint with the same wash your door/window trim and ceiling dividing boards. Match the gray to your beautiful sofa. Leave your doors white. With your soft yellow walls, it would be just gorgeous.

We successfully stripped a late 1800s chimney of all its plaster and brought it back to the brick. We first chipped off the plaster with a cold chisel and a long, flat garden edging tool (kind of like a hoe without the curve)... We went very carefully! Erring on the side of not taking off enough. Then we cleaned it up using the super coarse (36 grit) sandpaper cut from the used floor sander belts wrapped around a block of wood. Once it was cleaned up, we repointed it and sealed the brick with a natural look sealer. It was a super dusty kind of nasty job, but it came out well! And I like your stenciled floor in front there too.

Here is an idea for an easy, minimal fix. Just paint the mantle white. It will offer contrast and dimension, and perhaps inadvertently fix other problems with just a small change. Sometimes a small change goes a long way. The floors arebeautiful, and you might echo that wood color in the overhead grid.

I like traylexan's advice...paint the panels off white and you could even paint the mantle, too.

I'll admit that I find the fireplace kind of delightful...of course, we have two massive fieldstone fireplaces (which sounds like an embarrassment of riches as I type it) in our house, which really were a big part of why we bought the place. I'm a sucker for fireplaces that own the place.

That said...I can see the need to somehow bring everything in the room together. I'd definitely bring a lighter shade of the wall color up onto the ceiling--not the beams; I would leave those white--but into the "coffers" to create an illusion of height. I might be tempted to take out the right hand set of panels from the fireplace to create a bit of symmetry. And I would definitely find something less modern to house the entertainment system. And then I might go absolutely bat-spit crazy and hire a decorative painter to do a little something in the two panels right over the hearth (behind the clock, as it is. BTW, I think I have that clock.) Maybe two primitive portraits of you and your loved one, glaring at each other across the mantel in old Colonial style...(this last bit might be because it's ridiculously late at night and I really should go to bed.)

You've got a lovely, interesting house!

Love old houses... I will definitely be following this thread!

It sounds like you need a priority list… If the chimney ends in the attic that's a major issue obviously. You may be able to do an insert like a Sellkirk that runs up through it however, and out through the roof.

Then you could do a gas insert in the fireplace or possibly even wood if you want to deal with wood.

I agree with the other suggestions, doing a built-in to balance out that wall, and then I would paint the wood as an inexpensive easy solution to the heaviness that's currently there.

As far as the windows goes it sounds like they did not put foam around the windows when they installed them.

You might have to get somebody to remove a window and find out what the story is with the installation because new windows should not be drafty.

here are some Fireplaces with Flexible Stone:

Review these colors:

I have to tell everyone that I loved all the comments/responses. We are currently working on this room and the fireplace has yet to be completed, but we have something planned and we are ready to implement it this weekend. I am very excited to share pics once it's all together. Maybe another 2 weeks will do it. It's been a long and thought out plan and a bit scary not knowing that the choices we make will work - plus we've had to Google a few "how to" videos. :) I would like to share all the changes we've made once we are finished. Again, its been great reading everyone's comments. You've made me laugh and given me great advise and I really appreciate it all.

Before
Before
Before

We went from the panel of wood to the Airstone. We painted the walls a dusty rose, painted the ceiling and trim, put in a new front door, replaced the window treatments, replaced the wall sockets and got rid of the huge arm chair. See before and after. We still have some decorating to do. We'd like to put an electric insert inside the fireplace and get rid of the TV stand and mount the TV screen on the wall, hang some pictures, get a new side table and clean up the wood floor and pick up some more. :-)

After

After

We still have a few things left to do, but am happy with the direction we are going in. It was very helpful to have had all the advice that we received on this. Thank you everyone!!

Let me know what you all think! :-)

Much better! Nice pallet of colors