too bad, looks like a nice room.

it's either a great conversation starter, a feature, or a DIY gone wrong.

you could face over it with a slab.

Cheap rum and/or an astigmatism.

This is a variation of "drunk brick" or "Hollywood bond".

This actually takes more skill than a running bond to do properly.

Just read my last sentence and can’t seem to edit it. Anyway, just curious if anyone has completely removed brick and had it redone. Cost?

Rough waves ahead!

Much easier to go over it with another surface.

That makes it look worse @Paul F., in my opinion.

Wow, I had no idea until I saw palimpsest’s post. Found this on Houzz.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6150829/bond-drunken-bond

Makes me wonder about some others.

Barb, it looks like a very nice home!

Why is it that fireplaces are often the most F’d up part of a nice home? I have a crappy fireplace that i need to rework 😢

John Spofforth:

If you don't want to go through demolishing it, you can simply have it painted in a colour that will coordinate with your decor. Here are a few ideas...

Maybe hobbits did it?

Thanks for all of the comments. Going over it with tile or slab would still require removing the bricks by the doorways because it is slightly wider than the doorways. Also brick is not level and you would have to grind down some of the bricks. I am not convinced that painting it would hide the sloping effect. Just crazy!

DH and I have removed several brick fireplace fronts. Of course, none of them were as high as this...and they were definitely messy. But a sledgehammer, some beer, and pizza, and several hours...and they were gone. Hauling the brick out of the house and to the landfill took longer. Beer and pizza AFTER the work was done, of course!

Gorgeous room -

I would be tempted to paint it (dead flat) or use Romabio as a first step to see how far it got me- I think the wonkiness would be toned down if the surface was all one color

I like it. It reminds me of Spoffy on one of my favourite threads. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/323878/monster-of-a-fireplace-i-ve-never-seen-anything-like-it#n=1057 The work of brick mason and artist John Spofforth.

IMO paint it first you have nothing to loce and at least it will give you an idea for acolor for the pover tile. Missed the not yours part. I think if you are willing to do the work and the price is right go for it if everything else is great. For me so manything that Iwould change I would keep looking

"Looking at"...................

Keep looking. This is flawed in every way. It is choking the room, the passages. It is hideous, and no amount of anything will fix it.

A different house. This isn't the last on earth: ) and it isn't a gorgeous room. Sorry, is not.

Yes since you don't own it, this will never be a nicely proportioned room, or one that you can lay out furniture easily. I'd keep looking. You're already budgeting to change a fireplace into a fireplace and there are probably ways you'd rather spend money.

The size and the brick are quite overwhelming. Before you get up there to paint it, rethink what you want in that room. Just do it once - but do it right. Covering it with another material is not the answer.

It’s “too much”. The wonky bricks are more interesting than annoying but I would want a better scaled look for that room. Taking it down and doing a better scaled, better matched-to-your-house fireplace will probably are you happier. Save your time and money. Research fireplaces, have fireplace designers come to your house, scour photos on Houzz and let’s see what other Houzzers say.

Your house, from the little we can see, looks traditional/transitional. Can you post photos of the front (outside) and the other rooms surrounding this brick beast?

I missed the part about not yours yet. I see many things I would want to change so unless you are getting a great price and can afford the changes IMO keep looking.

Yes. These comments have made me think that this house is only worth considering if it drops another $100,000. They have already dropped $85,000 since last September. Big houses are still flying off the market here IF they are nice. It is pretty clear that this fireplace is a huge deterrent.

I didn’t know it wasn’t yours. Now you know that there is a huge expense, mess and headache around this one feature. This is probably one reason it isn’t selling. What are the other negatives?

I’m getting concerned if you buy this house. Does it have the right number of bedrooms and bathrooms? Do the bathrooms also need work? Post photos of the kitchen (or the link to the listing). I’m assuming the location is good for you and your family. When other, looking-similar houses are “flying off the market” and this one isn’t, stop and think. You’re buying something others have rejected. Do you want the problems they saw? Is it only this huge brick behemoth?

The other side of this argument is that you’re buying a bargain in a high priced area. Only do this if it’s your forever house.

Here's the look of your brick fireplace painted white with a few decor adjustments...

If you want to spend the 50 k to rid yourself of it entirely and by that I mean to code......flu gone all of it gone, repair the flooring, roof venting, and see all the way through to the kitchen beyond? Lose the dated arches as well? Get 75 k off the house pricing. : ) Minimum.

If the exterior is the same, I would not change it.

Where is this house?

Village of Lakewood, IL, also would pop up under Crystal Lake IL

It is all what you like.

It’s awful. I do not think painting it will help. If the front looks like this too, then I would move on to another house - uness the sellers come down 100k or more as you suggested and you love the house. I’d just be nervous about the quality of work elsewhere. If I bought the house, I’d tear out the fireplace (but then you open a can of worms with floor replacement). I’d tear out and replace the rest of the brick in the house.

As my husband pointed out, you would have to remove the stone chimney on the roof.first or it would all collapse. Too bad. Definitely not worth all of this. I like the look of the white painted brick, but you would still see the mortar lines.

Big job to remove brick and might be part of structural support for roof so make sure you understand all aspects. A much simpler solution is doing a white wash with this type product or a German Schmear application. The first choice is easiest. I think it would be best to camouflage the wonky brick pattern.

I like Lised’s rendering.

If you really like the house, can you have a contractor take a look to see what can be done to repair it or remove it? As Flo Managa suggested, you would want to check if it’s structural. I had a structural engineer look at mine before removing. I guess I’d have him also look at the feasibility and cost of replacing the brick in the rest of the house. That might help you come up with an offer.

Looking at the pictures, it seems there is another fireplace with the same brick? Also the front of the house. So if you changed this fireplace, you'd still have the other areas.

would be silly to remove all the brick when you don't have to! they could do a thin coat of stone veneer right on the brick. Tearing that thing down would be a colossal waste of time/money and labor.

Here, photoshop of how it could look. any thin stone is doable. (I'd close off that doorway to the right and do some type of built in next to the redone fireplace.

here's what the application of thin veneer looks like

Or, skim coat it. you wouldn't have to remove anything.

you could do a regular stucco coat smoothed,

venetian plaster,

or even a cement overlay.

Or, a very heavy mortar wash (german schmear, heavy limewash)

Or, cover the brick w/cement board and tile over it. (sometimes you can tile right over the brick. you'd have to check w/the tile guy first)

Thanks. Lots of options.

Yes, options aplenty......and some are much better than the existing! But the best is probably out: )

My bet is the original plans for the build? It's not there at all.

I think the problem is the sides of the fireplace already crowding the archways, and adding thickness to the sides of the fireplace will further squeeze those openings

Since the OP does not own the house and does not like this gigantic fireplace, I still say she should pass on the house altogether unless there's literally nothing else that is suitable on the market.

Do you want a huge, ugly thing smack dab in the middle of you house, blocking the flow of energy? If yes buy the house, if no then pass on it .

@Barb Wise it looks like a half-hearted or beginner's attempt at an extremely difficult pattern called drunken brick or Hollywood bond.

Before you decide this is the only thing about the house that doesn't suit you, take a closer look at the proportion of the skinny "support" wall/post to the left and the ginormous space of the room. Take a look at the Early American wood rails in this space. Look at the arches in this space. Many of these features are lovely in a smaller space, but aren't very compatible with this space. Really, it's the gigantic two-story open space that is the sore thumb, because the other things look fine together.

If you choose this house and want to make it into something sophisticated it will cost a lot of money and will take a long time. This house is not sophisticated. It's a series of features that don't go with the huge space and come off as comments that laugh at the pretentious, like lop-sided flamingos, gazing balls, or "Dogs at Cards" on black velvet.

If your first instinct is to improve on this space then I would advise you to pass and find something that is already tasteful and well-proportioned. Otherwise you are looking at a lot of money in changes.

The house isn't selling, which creates an opportunity. Negotiate hard and get at least $100 k off the price. Have the chimney removed, the hardwood floor and roof patched and the brick outside stuccoed. You've added value because the eyesores are gone.

I understand the strong desire to make this house work for you. I am house shopping too and this market is a bear in terms of inventory. That said, please pay close attention to the comments of kl23 above. This looks like a really misbegotten mac mansion with lots of potential problems beyond the fireplace.

Thanks for all the comments. We have decided the house is no longer worth considering at any price.

I don’t think you will regret that decision. Good job. Glad this group helped you avoid a potentially huge problem at any price. 😁. Happy New Year!

Good decision. We look forward to hearing about another house that suits you better.