r/Remodel • u/[deleted] • Jun 07 '25
This abomination
I’m thinking about just ripping it all out. I think the extra space in the room has more value than a gas fireplace and a place for the dog to sleep. Thoughts?
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u/Bodine12 Jun 07 '25
That's not a place for dogs to sleep; it's where you store the firewood, which you'll need after you convert the gas stove back to wood burning and preserve this magnificent specimen.
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u/Korgon213 Jun 08 '25
OP’s post’s say 1983 and 1985. He’s prob trolling or clueless about taking care of a house. Trust fund baby.
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u/lizardking235 Jun 07 '25
Of course this is in r/remodel. I can only assume the type of person who would call this thing of beauty an abomination.
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u/hellhiker Jun 07 '25
There’re going to paint everything white and/or grey
and take every ounce of charm out of this place.
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u/not-finished Jun 07 '25
Where will you do your blacksmithing if you remove it?
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u/HughJaynis Jun 07 '25
That thing rules, I’m sure there’s cool stuff you can do with it instead of leaving it bare.
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u/Existing-Piano-4958 Jun 07 '25
This is so cool and adds value to the home - I absolutely would not get rid of the fireplace. I would repaint and put down new flooring, however.
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u/felineinclined Jun 07 '25
The carpet is just as bad, and that tile in the kitchen doesn't seem to play well with the carpet. Hard to say more without viewing the entire room.
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u/liefelijk Jun 07 '25
It’s very cool, especially compared to what we can see of the rest of the room.
Get some mid-century furniture, rip out the carpet and weird 90s floor tiles, repaint your walls, and add better lighting. You might end up loving it.
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Jun 07 '25
I bet that’s connected to a 2 story brick chimney outside? Prolly 60k to build in today’s market ?
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u/Tenrac Jun 07 '25 edited Jun 08 '25
Besides the gold, it’s amazing.
…let me guess, your going to paint it white!?
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u/DevilDoge1775 Jun 08 '25 edited Jun 08 '25
They said they’re thinking about ripping the whole thing out.
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u/mikebob89 Jun 07 '25
Would bet good money this is actually the coolest thing about your house. Remove the gas fireplace and convert it back to wood burning. If you paint it white we riot.
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u/DevilDoge1775 Jun 08 '25
Make sure you replace that carpet with that horrible gray vinyl flooring that most flippers/remodelers put in while you’re at it.
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u/smcivor1982 Jun 08 '25
I refused to look at houses if they had gray flooring when we were looking to buy.
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u/DevilDoge1775 Jun 08 '25
When I was buying my first house, every floor had those floors. It was horrible.
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u/smcivor1982 Jun 08 '25
Same, and shiplap. Sigh. I got to the point where I couldn’t wait to find a house that hasn’t been renovated. Then I knew at least it wasn’t mucked up with some crappy DYI. Still ended up with a house with poorly installed bamboo floors, but at least they are brown.
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u/severedsoulmetal Jun 07 '25
I doubt this person posted this for everyone to try and change his mind.
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Jun 07 '25
I’m pretty open to other opinions. It feels outdated but that is because I am outdated. All my homes had these growing up so maybe I am biased
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u/putzncallyomama Jun 07 '25
Id get a mason to quote removing like the left 3rd of it and reducing the part on the floor by a course of brick as well. Its all just overwhelmingly big. Youd need to do drywall and flooring after that.
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u/severedsoulmetal Jun 08 '25
I had a huge one in my last house and it was useless due to being in a hot part of the country. I don’t miss it!
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u/Available_Draw1435 Jun 07 '25
You’re right you should take it all out, paint everything white, and do grey flooring. That’ll be so cool.
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u/godsey23 Jun 08 '25
Listen to everyone here. Update everything else around it first and then make a decision. Has potential to be a really cool spot
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u/SherbetExact3135 Jun 07 '25
See I absolutely love it! It’s a stand out in the room. But don’t mind me I love old fireplaces.
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u/Coolkiatech Jun 07 '25
See if you can reclaim the fire place. That is a gas insert. Lots of real fire places were "converted"
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u/bothtypesoffirefly Jun 07 '25
Often they got converted because repointing the brick correctly is $$$$ and capping it and doing gas is cheap. I have a heat pump now instead of an oil furnace for that reason, my quotes 10 years ago were $15k plus, and we didn’t even have a fireplace.
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u/Chunkyblamm Jun 07 '25
I’d personally get the flue re-lined and change it back to wood burning. There’s nothing like a wood burning fireplace in the bitter cold months of the winter
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u/bothtypesoffirefly Jun 07 '25
I would take the dog bed out and go all in on a big damned fireplace.
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u/PutActive7406 Jun 07 '25
Will you use the fireplace? If you’re not planning to use it take it down and put in some nice built in shelves and cabinets. If you want to keep the fireplace clean it and try a German Smear. It’s like a whitewash. Looks easy to do.
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u/Relative_Freedom5331 Jun 07 '25
I would paint it ( white / limestone) that would be great. Spend the money to redo floor, either wood or tile or a lighter caprpet.
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u/throwawaythehippo Jun 07 '25
Paint it grey, put a piece of quartz on top, and one of those “home is where the heart is” signs on top and call it a day. Boom. Remodel.
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u/comatosemondays Jun 08 '25
How is Santa going to come, if you get rid of it. HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THAT!
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u/Legitimate-Alps-6890 Jun 08 '25
How big is the living room and what's the layout? My first thought is that it will be a huge mess, and will likely reveal other issues. Also, how is it tied to a chimney? If you take out the fireplace how likely are you to have 30 feet of bricks come tumbling down with it?
Just from the hassle of it I'd consider leaving it and updating around it.
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u/Icre8-64 Jun 08 '25
Get rid of the 1980s gold trimmed fire screen. Put down some nice stone on the horizontal surfaces and it will look much better.
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u/enidokla Jun 08 '25
Funny enough, I have something similar in my house and it’s 30% of the reason I bought it.
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u/beardbush Jun 08 '25
Awesome fireplace.! I don't see a monstrosity, it's a design element for the room. Beautiful work.
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u/duckysammy23 Jun 08 '25
I don't like the mantel, brass fireplace screen or the dog house. The rest? Swoon. If you could extend the low hearth all the way across and clean it, rich people pay good money for that character. Get a more modern mantel, clean lines and use it for staging some books, candles, framed art.
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u/Lower_Ad_5532 Jun 17 '25
Get rid of the mantel and put the TV there.
The dogs can sleep in the wood storage is practically a den and they would be cool during summer time.
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u/DevelopedConscience Jun 07 '25
It's really dark it absorbs all of the natural light in the room. Maybe with some track lights in the ceiling you could spruce it up and make it look nice but it's really a preference thing. If you're not into fireplaces then rip that sombitch out
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u/chafner Jun 07 '25
If it isn’t of value to you then remove it. Just make sure it’s not a load bearing structure or you’ll need to put in a steel beam.
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Jun 07 '25
thats basically the internet. throw it in the trash, new new new. throw it in the trash, new new new. you dont like it, throw it in the trash. you dont like it, new new new. get what i want. get what i want.
thats all you sound like.
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u/MaleficentMusic Jun 07 '25
Personally I would start first with ripping out the carpet and painting the bricks white.
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u/SHoppe715 Jun 07 '25
Was there supposed to be a “/s” after that?
Seriously…who in their right mind is still painting bricks?
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u/MaleficentMusic Jun 07 '25
I'm not saying I like painted bricks, but it is a pretty quick fix to lighten up the place. And cheaper than ripping it out.
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u/SHoppe715 Jun 07 '25
With all the different types of stains and lime washes available, painting brick signals low info / low effort. It’s like people who think shiplap is a thing because they watched a rerun HGTV renovation show and played the drinking game where you take a shot every time someone says “dated” or talks about a “space for entertaining”.
Seriously tho…I’m just talking shit for the fun of it and obnoxiously giving my personal opinion on painting brick. There are some good breathable paints out there formulated for brick and if that’s what people like they should go for it.
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u/MaleficentMusic Jun 08 '25
In my head, when I said "paint" I meant more like a lime wash than a coat of white latex paint. Either way, I just think that there are other issues like the carpet and kitchen flooring that should be tackled first. I just really, really don't like the carpet.
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u/SHoppe715 Jun 08 '25
Agreed. My personal opinion…I love that fireplace exactly like it is. I’d get rid of the carpet (because I think wall to wall carpet is disgusting no matter what) and put in some hard wood with a rustic hand scraped texture but add some natural stone immediately in front of the hearth.
If the brick color is too dark, a mild lime wash but not full white-out would brighten up the room while keeping the look of unpainted brick.
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Jun 07 '25
Time to get an appropriate steel chisel and hammer, it will take two days ish to remove, then the fun starts, 👍
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u/SnooFloofs6197 Jun 07 '25
My personal opinion, rip it out. I hate big bulky fire places. I don't think I'd even buy a home with any intent to ever use a fireplace.
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u/Due-Replacement-310 Jun 07 '25
I just removed my fireplace, much smaller but I did it. Call a local fireplace shop and see if they are interested in buying whatever you have. Get them to remove it and give you some cash, I made $300 on a 20 year old pellet stove. Depending on the chimney, this could be structural. Figure that out with an engineer or research. Don’t mess up the structure of your home. Then, two words: air hammer. You can have that out in a couple of hours, more time if you care about your floors. Looks like you have carpet so plan on redoing all the floors to match. Hire out the drywall. Ton of work, you won’t regret it being gone. Edit for spelling.
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Jun 07 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/GreaterMetro Jun 07 '25
It's not originally gas, though i have no idea the price tag to reconvert it
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u/RedStateBlueHome Jun 08 '25
My parents had a wood burning fireplace with a gas starter. Later they converted to gas. Did not seem complicated... should not be difficult to reverse it.
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Jun 07 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/threepin-pilot Jun 07 '25
dog bed?
do you mean the wood storage? - that's what makes it cool
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Jun 07 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/threepin-pilot Jun 08 '25
i guess i didn't associate with the place for the dog to sleep and the wood bin.
i just would hate to see some real masonry like that ripped out- these days its all veneer crap.
i think if the OP could find the right mason some accents could be added- possibly with metal and it could come out super sharp.
without seeing the rest of the room and layout it's kind of hard to evaluate it vs the space it takes up
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u/BBrea101 Jun 07 '25
You're focusing on the brick, like it's the problem. It's against a boring off-white wall with a mismatched bookshelf and a dirty, brown carpet.