Have it removed.

Too much work, mess and time for our situation... This is a "make the best of it" kind of problem...

What does your realtor suggest? And if it's a "make the best of it" situation, I guess you just turn the water back on. Better to have a working monstrosity than a non-working one?

Wow. If you can't remove it, add big bright live plants for the showings (big ferns?). I realize the plants would not survive in that corner but it is just for the sale of the house.

Well, if I were house hunting I would just turn around & walk out the front door. This is an exception to my "don't spend money to sell rule". It's horrible, sorry.

Leaving it in will cost you more than taking it out.

Cask of Amontillado. Wall it up behind some drywall, "sorry it's just a weird shaped room."

Judging by the ceilings, that'll be an acceptable answer.

As a minimum, you'll need demolition & repair bids to show an ultimate buyer. I'd go ahead and get those bids now....the price may be lower than you think.

And as others have said, for every dollar you spend now to demolish and patch, you'll recoup several in both resale price and resale speed. Basically no buyers will want that bizarre feature, IMO. Those who would accept it will be demanding a discount that's more than the demo/repair costs, just to cover risk and hassle factor.

However, if it's just impossible to demolish for some reason (cash flow?), then I'd work with the real estate agent and a stager to get a really beautiful display of ferns and orchids in there, or whatever other solution they suggest. (When you see the cost of a decent coverup solution, demolition may start to look better and better.)

Good luck!

Thank you, Jason Bernstein, for taking me back to my sixth grade English class with the The Cask of Amontillado reference. Ha!

Remove it. It looks dated.

There's nothing, absolutely nothing to do to make it look better. Except to eliminate it.

Come on people! Where are your imaginations! I appreciate the cask of amontillado reference... Made me laugh!

Can you sit on it? Maybe you can make it a bench of sort (reaching for the stars here)

Tems, out of the box...

I like the creativity!

Options: 1. Turn the water back on and use it as intended; 2. Move the entire fountain outdoors; 3. Replace the ferns with gel fuel canisters and turn it into a faux fireplace; 4; Convert it into an entertainment center with a 60" flat screen TV, speakers, comfy chairs. That's all I've got! Good luck.

Pull out the (dead? dying?) ferns and use it for a display feature? :) Believe it or not, I've got a collection of Santos that would actually look good there. Maybe hope the buyers have a collection that needs a unique home? You never know. You posted this an hour ago and someone came along who could actually use it.

Or do the Cask of Amontillado.

YOU bought this house with the feature in place and I suspect someone else will too. Get the bids for removal and repair of walls. Contact a plant rental agency (the malls use them) and have them work their magic.

Do you not own a sledgehammer....??

You could use live plants to stage your home. A lot of greenery and combinations and shapes of leaves to cover the water fountain feature. : ( /

You never know, there might be somebody out there that just loves it.

Can you somehow turn it into a large bench by filling in the water trough area and add some toss pillows?
How is that for imaginative?

Here is hiding it with plants. One obviously is a nod to spring with blooming everything,the other more tropical with a small palm.