I want some help with a fireplace.

Podunk? Nah! It is the “Queen” city.
Greetings from the Tupelo area. Waitin’ for the pics.
Bill

-- bill@magraphics.us

This is an older picture while we were getting all the white, brown, red, and more white paint off. It will give you an idea. It is the same on both sides.

The fireplace is 67 5/8” wide X 58 1/4” tall

The opening is 33 1/4” wide X 26 1/4” tall.

Nothing on it is strait. One side angles in, the bricks are not flush, etc. This will be a nightmare at best. The fire opening is dead center, some of the picture was cut off.

-- A carpenter takes an ugly, knotted, twisted piece of wood and makes something beautiful and pure from it. Jesus was and still is a carpenter, I am that piece of wood.

-- A carpenter takes an ugly, knotted, twisted piece of wood and makes something beautiful and pure from it. Jesus was and still is a carpenter, I am that piece of wood.

One requirement of these old-style fireplaces is that they had to be drafty. (Modern fireplaces have seperate combustable air supplies and circulating air supplies.)

This creates an issue for you to close it up and try to store something of value inside the space. Unless you can seal this up above the roof, this space will be essentially exposed to the elements.

If you could safely dismantle this and close the roof completely, you would solve a lot of issues, not to mention you could reclaim the space to do with as you wished. It would be very messy, but maybe worth it.

-- "Hard work is not defined by the difficulty of the task as much as a person's desire to perform it.", DS251

I want to still be able to use the fireplace. I am trying to cover up most of the brick and cinder blocks with something like a fireplace surround, but I want to be able to “hide” stuff in the surround. Maybe columns and shelves and such. I am not trying to seal up the fireplace by any means.

-- A carpenter takes an ugly, knotted, twisted piece of wood and makes something beautiful and pure from it. Jesus was and still is a carpenter, I am that piece of wood.

Well, that is another matter altogether. (I should read more carefully. Must be something about Friday afternoon.)
Usually a non-combustable tile border of about 6” to 8” around the opening is all that is needed then you can put whatever casework seems appropriate. I would integrate a mantle with the casework and perhaps some columns that extend to the ceiling.

-- "Hard work is not defined by the difficulty of the task as much as a person's desire to perform it.", DS251

I might be a little confused about what you’re trying to do….from the pic shown, I don’t see any reason you can’t build a simple mantel with surround that would cover the bricks and provide at least some storage if you build it out from the wall a little, though you wan’t too have much room in the pilasters (vertical support legs).

I’ve built two mantels, one with shelves, one without ....both with space to hide stuff just underneath the mantel, and both come out from the wall 6” to 8”. To get ideas, we Googled fireplace pics, mantel pics, etc., and made a folder of things we liked. Good luck, and please keep us updated.

-- Happiness is like wetting your pants...everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth....