Almost anything is possible, with the right tools and design ingenuity. But I would not do it, no matter how much I want the fireplace on the other side. It's risky because the way the chimney is shaped is to ensure an updraft when you light a fire. If you break through a wall to make is 2-sided, you alter the shape, probably in unpredictable ways, and you may not get as good a fire as you have now. It would also be a very messy and expensive alteration. You are likely to end up with an entirely different fireplace from the one you have now, not a nice old fireplace that's now 2-sided. But I'm just a layman. What do I know? You might want to pose your question in the chat room at hearth.com. The people there live, sleep, and breath fireplaces.

To get the best answers for your area, find and talk to someone who specilizes in installing fireplaces. Here around Madison WI I used a place called United Brick & Fireplace, but there are 4-5 others, this is just the one my builder recommended. DH wanted the old fashion heat sucking open fireplace that would be pretty and sound and smell like a wood fire. I wanted something that would heat the house offer the ambience of a fireplace, but not the heat sucking effect. Like a free-standing wood stove. We discovered you can get a hi-eff wood stove that is set into a masonary fireplace! The door will open on the front when hubby wants the crackle & smell, it won't suck heat out of the house, and it will offer the firelight and heat. Bonus! some of them you can even order a cooking arm and pot to cook over the fire. Anyhow we went with this one. Montecito Fireplace but the place installing ours had several options available.

You can replace the present stove with one that has glass doors if you wish to increase the ambiance. You might be able to add another stove on the opposite wall, using the same flue. These changes are not a DIY project.

It’s my first winter in my new house. Does anyone know how this fireplace works? Are the fans on the bottom supposed to turn on? Should there be a switch? It also has these knobs inside the fireplace (second/third pic); not sure what they do. It’s not for an ash dump. Thanks!