help with fireplace not in the middle of the chimney breast.

last year

Just noticed the fireplace is not in the middle of the chimney breast. There was an chest of IKEA drawers when we bought the house. Really tight on budget so we’re thinking of plastering and making it a book shelf- this is girls bedroom.

I don’t think I want to create a bigger hole to make it even as I am not sure how to do this.

Any ideas?

Featured Answer

siobhanmcgee90

last year

It looks like this was extended at some time. Perhaps reduce the size of the opening so it is symmetrical.

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Comments (14)

Sonia
last year
I think that’s a great idea. We boarded up the fireplaces in our bedrooms after removing the hideous 1930s fire surrounds. We did put in air vents but I’m not sure if that’s a legal requirement?
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Going back to original options with the sofas opposite each other, can you fit a tv unit under the stairs as that could look quite good? With regard to the L shaped arrangement with the tv on the unit, you could drill a circle in the back of the unit and store the play station and sky in there. Another option which I think could work is to swap the dining and living round as the dining end looks bigger. Have one sofa on the kitchen wall with the other opposite ( place the sofas about a foot from both walls) and hang the tv above the radiator. You could make a feature of the room with a built in tv, Sky and radiator cover, as per example attached from Andre hodges. That should still give you at least 4ft for a clear corridor to the kitchen ( on the basis the 7ft measurement you gave was from the side of the kitchen door!) I wouldn't paper the recesses now I've seen the whole room. Maybe considering papering or painting the kitchen wall to Bring the wall in so as to make it feel wider and give more interest to the lounge.
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Hi, Agree with Carolina, also you could put cupboard doors on the front which open up to reveal the bedside units and shelves - may be easier from a tidyness point of view (if you're anything like me!). Here's some ideas for you... This one shows the kind-of effect I was meaning with the wardrobe door. Hope this helps!
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I have opened up four large bricked up fireplaces. All four had varying degrees of messiness. The worse filled 90 bags with soot, dead birds, enough nesting branches to make up a tree, bones, insects, lots of insects, bricks and lime from inside the chimney and mystifyingly a piece of tombstone dated 1726. The least messy was marginally less messy with 35 bags. I have also removed wall vents in bedroom fireplaces and found them rammed with soot, insects, dead birds etc again filling bin bags in double figures. They were all worth doing not least because I now know they are structurally sound and there is good air flow to prevent damp. But they were not tasks for the faint hearted and I made sure to get professional advice before starting and got a chimney sweep in to clean them out and check them with a CCTV camera. What I am saying is be prepared. Be aware that above that fireplace is a lot of weight. Do you know if it is structurally sound all the way up to the chimney pots? Does it have a suitable sound lintel in the hearth? Have you sought professional advice? If you tick all those boxes then proceed but first empty the room if you can and tape up the door. Wear suitable PPE, gloves, hard hat and an all important PP3 face mask and have lots of bin bags! If you plan to have a real fire then it will need to comply with Building Regulations. Finally I cannot stress too strongly that this is one job where professional advice and or help is highly recommended.
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Hi Kat, My, how that is crying out for a beautiful fireplace! In theory, there is no reason why you couldn't just mount a mantel and then tile onto the wall - but you MUST maintain the ventilation with a suitably sized grille. Plenty of nice options using punched metal etc, rather than the plastic one we see. That said, in my own view, you are probably best to reopen the fireplace "void" more fully - it gives you the option to put in some sort of fireplace, whether decorative or functional, or a nice additional "space" to dress & use. Such a change needn't cost the earth - especially if you are not reinstating a fire requiring flues etc. And you will be amazed at the wealth of inexpensive "used" hearths, fireplaces & mantels you can pick up on Ebay - some incredible bargains to be had! Then use the money you save to pay a professional to frame/board/tile it out properly... Let us know what you eventually do - and post pics! Caldicot Kitchens
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carocat24
last year
Why does it have to be symmetrical?
PRO
Den Life Interiors
last year
It might be nice to run a shelf like a mantle from the right edge of the fireplace all the way out to the left. If you try it out with some tape to see you could get a nice balanced look. It would make a feature of it then without hiding it away. Cost effective too. Then plaster the inside and can be storage with a toy basket that can be dragged in and out. Maybe even paint it a fun different colour to the rest of the wall.
Susy Q
last year
Knock the walls to see if it’s been extended- one of ours isn’t in the middle and it’s because the heating pipes run upstairs along it and it’s been boxed in to look like the fireplace
Ted
last year
If you don't want to increase the size of the opening then making it smaller is a simpler job, or block it up all together with some wood and plaster board then easyfill the edges
User
last year
Looks like the hole was enlarged at some point, so should be a fairly simple job to make it smaller again.
PRO
Organise Space
last year
last modified: last year
I agree with Suzy Q, you could also chisel some plaster off around the left and corner to see where the lintel goes to. It could have been extended / modified on the inside left OR the outside. Ours are asymmetrical but the differences are more dramatic so its looks deliberate, this looks like an after thought.
PRO
Organise Space
last year
HU-29309451 almost certainly right - it looked a bit to small to me though?
siobhanmcgee90
last year
I would think that the flue for the downstairs fireplace is likely to be directly behind rather than to the side of the opening but the flue for both likely joins above this one.
tim_baker921
last year
If you are up for some graft, a little cash and a lot of mess put a new concrete lintel higher up then remove the bricks below. Line with plasterboard, foil backed to prevent staining, and you have a useful storage alcove where you can add shelves etc. Who really wants a redundant fireplace in a bedroom?
PRO
Cocoona Designs
last year
I dont think an off centre fireplace looks all that bad……too much symetry can be boring and asymetry creates interest.

Think about how you need the room to function, eg where will the bed go, wardrobes etc may add some built in storage to the right to waist level with shelves above and use the oddness of the chimn breast to display some quirky.

Sarah x
PRO
Cocoona Designs
last year
ForForgot to add this picture just to demonstrate how asymetric works so well…
É Cunnanie
last year
If this is a terraced Victorian or early Edwardian house, what you’re seeing is pretty typical - as someone else has pointed out above, the reason this fireplace looks off centre is almost certainly that the flue for the fireplace in the room below it runs to the left. If you’re using the fireplace below, do NOT knock into this one just to see what’s there - you could end up cracking the lining and causing smoke to come through. If you’re not using the fireplace below, you have much more options: the cheapest is to close off the right of the fireplace so that the remaining gap is centred; you could also fit a load bearing lintel and extend to the left. I’m with Cacoona though - asymmetry can be a nice feature

help with fireplace not in the middle of the chimney breast.

siobhanmcgee90

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Sonia

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