Frankly, even if it were a nice one I'd have it torn down. You have a lovely view outside and I would expand the windows there to take advantage of it As it is now, I'd rip it down with my bare hands so much do I hate it. I agree, it simply cannot be made more attractive. And keep the mid-century vibe with other things.

Thanks Aphaea. I want to take sledgehammer to it so badly. I dont think completely removing it and replacing it with windows is an option unfortunately. There is a whole chimney that would need to be removed to make room for windows, and with everything else that needs to be done we won’t have the budget for that. replacing the facade is going to be the best i can hope for.

Paint it. If you rip it out I’d go with tile.

I understand, and as I don't know much if anything about fireplace facades I will step aside and let those who do provide the workable suggestions. Good luck!

Our stone was awful too. We painted it and it’s better than it was but eventually we will tile over it.

Since the house "needs new everything", you should wait to decide. Once you've moved in, make a list of everything that needs to be done, and what your budget and priorities are. You may have other items that are needs instead of wants. I think the fireplace would look great with a modern large tile, or smooth stucco surface to stay with the MCM design. I would also want to lower the hearth. But updating other areas may take priority or be items that you both agree on, so you can start with those.

Two sisters · More Info

husbands……they are just so precious🥰

Aphaea i do like your idea in my perfect world! you have me also thinking about adding a large floor to ceiling window to the other side where the rectangular one is. something i hadn’t thought of before. so thank you!

Keep the view and have the heat too.

Mt Rain House · More Info

I would have to replace it at some point. I have yet to see a painted fireplce that looks good….maybe somewhat better…..but not good. Your home looks to have a lot of potential.

Decoenthusiaste, in my dreams! id love that!

You don't have to use paint, you can use a thinned 'stain to change the color of the stone.

Beverlyfladeziner i feel like it’s too porous to look good with a white wash

Alicia, the stone you have is likely composite concrete. It can be sealed if necessary prior to applying any colors.

It can be any color wash and it can be a multi-colored wash to make the rocks more interesting.

Short of removing the stone, how do you want it to appear????? Identify that and we'll advise you how to get there.

I'm the 1 love it vote. Tell your hubby he is not alone.

I personally think I’d remove the ledge.
And reface the FP
I’d probably go over it with a flat stucco or cement finish and call it a day :)

BeverlyFLADeziner, thank you! the rocks in all these pictures are so much nicer than our to begin with. I could try limewashing it lightish grey or something, but i think I still wouldnt love it, and it might not be worth fighting for at that point. would it look horrible in black lime wash? idk maybe taking the contrast of the mortar down would improve it? Removing it is what I want to do. i know its just a prefabricated fireplace, and before we move in and rip out the cheap vinyl floors, i want to take a chisel to it, put up cement board and start out fresh. I found some large matte black tiles with brass accents that I thought would look chic and modern, but my husband loves this damn fireplace. For me it‘s a top priority, for him it’s a reason he wanted the house. I was kinda thinking there might be a middle ground, like replacing it with a stone facade that still looks midcentury but also modern and not hideous. I havent found anything though.

I have this FP in our house it is a 1956 MCM ranch and I thought i would hate it but I love it now I like the way it is so much texture with all out very contemporary sytle it gives a feel of a old Italian farm house we left it on the kitchen side too ,Definately real stone and a huge part of the actual home's support . I am not so sure yours is fake either

Patricia, yours is lovely. its a soft grey. I wouldnt have removed it either. this one is definitely fake, you can even see little unnatural peaks and drips on the surface, like when you take a spoon out of cake batter. if it was real stone I would probably feel bad removing it.

We have walls of stone, not the volcanic kind, but the mortar is much closer to our stone color, which helps….the light color of your mortar kind of makes the rocks look like giraffe patterns, and a closer mortar color would tone down that contrast.

Leanne Ford did a house with a fireplace like that. She covered it in what I think she called a "mortar wash" and it looked much better.

Lol😂 giraffe! Yes! i agree the contrast of the mortar is horrible. maybe we should just get some zebra print chairs and a leopard rug and call it a day!

Ideas to show your husband?

Rip off the stone and cover it with a more modern concrete keeping the same hearth design.

Large format tile

in my last house I had a whole wall of the awful stone. I just watered down different colors of sample paint (it was mostly water with a little paint in it), got a rag, dapped some on a stone and wiped off to varying degrees. Worked great!

Had great plans on tearing out the stone and re-doing it but we got news that we were going to move so I needed something quick and cheap. This fit the bill and we got a ton of comments from wannabe buyers that they loved the fireplace. (yes, picture was too big but it was an eye catcher lol)

If you and your husband have a partnership relationship, and disagree so much on the fireplace, maybe it would be better to start on a renovation you both agree on. Maybe after making several other changes together, you will decide together what you would both like regarding a fireplace. Or maybe your husband is one of those who is more comfortable being ordered about, because he really doesn't like making decisions. Couples have different dynamics. If that's the case, do whatever you want and don't bother him. He'll be proud you made your new house a home all by yourself.

You don't have to tear it out. You could fur it out and drywall over it.

I agree with K L; leave it for now and start on other renovations. Assuming you werent plannjng in doing everythingnat once, leave this at the bottom of the to-do list for now.

You said you hate the house and that this fireplace is the centerpiece. If removing it will help you love the house as a new family home, then do it. Keeping something enormous that you hate is not the way to start a major renovation. You can trade some other change for this one.

HansenJansen, thanks! love the concrete! Applepie, that was my thought, i dont think it would even be so expensive that we’d have to make sacrifices elsewhere. If i tear it down, I’d rather do it before we move in and have to cover all the furniture, we are also planning on removing the popcorn ceilings and installing new wood flooring before we move in.

If you are changing the flooring, remove the fireplace first so you can patch in the new flooring.

Wow, it's a no-no for me!

Just a wild thought and maybe I'm far off, but.... What if you dyed the white tone of the mortar to match the dark stone and get it all "even out"? It might help, instead of going lighter, you could go darker and super bold!

Good luck, hope to see some "after" pics!!! :)

Marie

shinerugs.com

Not a fan. If it must stay, with or without a mantel, I'd want to add the largest piece of likeable art i could find on the top half of it -- perhaps a huge poster or even a framed wall mural or framed faux window posters .

https://www.elephantstock.com/products/lake-view-through-window-multi-panel-canvas-wall-art

Just guessing but that "stone" was likely once gray. Find a hidden corner and scrape off the ?brown? and see if it has already been painted; and, if so, perhaps either the paint could be removed or the "stone" could be repainted.

Does the fireplace provide heat? to burn wood? or gas ? would it be useful in a power outage? or is it an electric fireplace? Can you block your room heat from exiting via the chimney in the winter or is that fireplace going to significantly increase your heating bill?

How much more is your insurance with a fireplace than without it?

What is behind the fireplace -- deck or porch or patio that would suggest replacing it with a patio door, perhaps saving the stone for use for a patio?

Could you find a screen mantel/surround/screen that could cover most of the bottom beneath a mantel?

Could you add a mantel and paneling above the mantel?

Could you find a surround that might cover most/all of it?

https://monkshomeimprovements.com/mantel-surround-granite-hearth-nj/

or just a full width mantel and add wood panels above the mantel?

If you could remove the hearth protruding into the room and/or lighten it -- ?whitewash / paint it to be a lighter / medium gray? -- perhaps the fireplace would not be so overpowering, dark, foreboding.

Suezbell, thank you! it is a woodburning fireplace. i dont know much about the energy costs that will be associated with it. we live in oregon and have mild winters for the most part. it does have a flue that closes, i dont know how much that keeps air in. i had a chimney guy look at it before we bought the house, half hoping he would tell me it needed to be replaced, but he said it was in good shape. theres a 15 ft drop behind it, no deck or anything. i think you are right, a large piece of art might go a long way.

i think i convinced my husband to let me try and limewash it, i‘ll try grey and if that looks bad, i will try black, and if that looks horrible then maybe he’ll let me tear it down or cover it with a different facade. ill do it before we rip out the floor so we can. i‘m not happy with the compromise, but that‘s marriage!

i will post a picture once it’s “done”, good or bad.

thanks everyone!

Another thought would be to have it sand blasted to bring back the natural color of whatever it is and then go from there as far as lime washing, staining or painting it. That way the tones will be even. Sand blasting is messy, but if your doing all this work now is the best time to do it.

If you're going to try to fix it before deciding to take it out, I'd stain or paint the mortar to match the stone instead of limewashing in gray. The stone would retain the natural color but it would have less contrast.

It looks like a giraffe in your living room.

I am not usually a fan of painting stone or brick, but I think this is the time for it. Painted a nice neutral shade, that could become a lovely focal point. No way would I pay to remove that huge thing ... not when paint is only $50/gallon.