[Closed] Tacky fireplace

That's quite nice, why would you want to change it?

Its nice,

What you need is a couple of those china fish vases, where you stick the flowers in its mouth.

lovely.

how's about a couple of life size porcelain cocker spaniels either side to really enhance it ?

Nice new bike frame vs update a functional fireplace.
You decide!

TBH it does look a bit crap, dunnit?

I'd take it all out carefully, then bung it on Ebay. Someone'll love that.

Then replace it with either a stylish TV/home entertainment system (big enough cavity in wall?), or if you really must have a fire, something a bit more contemporary.

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Maybe. I dunno. Or if you're going for a period look, then something in keeping with the age of the house.

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Whatever, that current thing just looks like a tacky unfinished mess.

as a gas engineer i get asked this every week. the answer.. if you dont us ethe fire for heating the room ( its only supposed to be decoratice anyway) rip the lot out and create a flat wall in its place.

your hearth is only sat on the floor and once you have the fire removed bu your mate taking the wooden surround etc down is the work of seconds.. get a couple of breeze blocks block up the fireplace opening plaster over the blocks and hey presto nice clean finish

think about it we used to have open fires in the bedroom but we dont anymore .. so why have one in the living room if you have centrak heating.. without it its one less thing to go wrong and the room will immediately look bigger

Those floorboards look a bit Victorian, no?

The surround looks ok, but you ought to paint it rather than leaving it as it is. Pine ain't the prettiest in the world. It'll be a standard size so you can get lots of different inserts and fireplaces to go with it. A slate hearth is probably the most neutral and will go with anything else you choose.

Matt cast iron always looks nice I reckon.

Just google Victorian fireplace inserts. The world's your oyster.

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That's similar to the fireplace I had in the living room of my old house.
And one of these, but full size, working and original, in the back room. Class.
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I worked in a mahoosive Georgian town house in Bath recently where the original bread ovens were still in place in the corner of the basement kitchen. Quite cool.

Not saying you have to have something like this, but it's just an idea:

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Proper fireplaces are a proper PITA. Chimney needs sweeping, probbly need liners, got to meet all sort of building and safety regs, etc etc. Even gas fires are a pain. When a decent CH system is so much more efficient and more economical.

My own personal preference would be for a picture that slides down to reveal a screen behind. something like that. So that the TV doesn't dominate the room.

You'd have lovedmy old house dd. Victorian terrace and practically untouched from when it was built. Gas lights still attached to the walls, outside toilet, no running hot water and electric cables stapled to the walls and the floor boards. They were 100% original, no rot and probably untouched from installation, they were stripped and varnished and the colour was superb. Must be worth a fortune now. 😥

Proper fireplaces are a proper PITA. Chimney needs sweeping,

Shut up you idiot about I haven't got any class what on Earth are you talking about what do you know you're a philistine anyway how dare you insult me....

I do believe in having things in their correct context. Traditional looking houses with decor to match can feel great with a proper fireplace, but if a place has bin modernised, I just find 'traditional style' fireplaces to be anachronistic and a bit tacky really. That one in the OP is a perfect example of such.

My neighbour has a fireplace surround, just for his gas fire. No chimney or owt, 60's build council block. Looks tacky.

I do like nice bright burny fire, it satisfies some sort of primeval thing within us. But if it's not a proper fireplace with coals and logs and that, then I just think it looks half-arsed and tacky.

I don't believe in living in the past just for the sake of appearance though. If you like old stuff, great. But if it's just to try to impress yer friends and neighbours, then it's just silly.

Develop yer own style, and experiment with that. Much more fun.

Radiatori:

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The surround and hearth is the worst part of it, the picture doesn't do the plastic quality of the finish any justice at all.

The house is a 1930s bayfronted semi. We can't remove the fireplace entirely as we have just the stripped floorboards (which need revarnishing) and under the hearth is a concrete hearth.

The house is a 1930s bayfronted semi.

Ah, my mistake then. I should have looked more closely at the skirting, which looks like an Ovolo moulding - classic 20s/30s.

You might want to avoid 20s/30s fireplaces though - they could be a bit OTT.

I'd stick with keeping the existing surround, painting it and going for a slate hearth and your choice of insert and fireplace. The big lump of concrete under the existing doesn't offer a great deal of choice.

Correct it is Ovolo skirting, fortunately still available to order from our local independant timber merchant as some rooms were missing large sections of it.

Thanks for the advice, I think I will keep the pine surround and then have a look around during the week for a new insert and fireplace.

The cheaper laminate substitute for marble back like you have there usually have a different style print on the reverse, take the pine surround off and see if you can flip it. Alternatively (and cheaply) take it out and tile over in a matt dark tile and it'll be fine.

How should the pine fireplace come off? The one in the front room you lifted to remove as it was hooked on. Perhaps this one needs the actual fire removed as it feels like it will break if I lift it up with any more force

Got it off, they had used angle brackets and screwed it to the wall and plastered over the screw heads

Oh and there is a reverse print on the back side. Its even worse than the front 😆

If I wanted to tile the rear surround, I need to make up 25mm from the wall (the plastic laminate surround was spaced by wood)

Can I just do this with plasterboard, or is there something else I should use?

Cheers
Paul

plasterboard with any finish on except blown paper.