Or how much does it cost to convert vs paint white? If it doesn’t add too much value or even decrease value then I would probably not going to remodel it. It does look nicer but I am not sure if people still prefer real wood burning fireplace over electric one

I would leave the fireplace, and if you want electric, have a electric insert put into it. Leave it functional for woodburning, if you thing you could be selling some day. There are many that want the wood burning, and electric would be a deal breaker. This way, it works for all buyers.

I am in total agreement with grapefruit1_ar.

Lovely fireplace; wonderful color. Ixnay the mirror.

I think it looks really nice - very warm. I wish I had a log burning fireplace!

Yeah sorry but I think your current brick fireplace is so much prettier than the examples posted

After a second look at the photo, I would be totally on board with changing the hearth. Just the hearth. Because it is a stumbling hazard.

A nice coordinating tile for a lower profile plus being easier to sweep & keep clean.

Ok so most suggestions still prefer wood burning fireplace so I won’t convert it then. What about painting it white? The whole house is getting a repaint and the wall is agreeable grey from SW. the red brick doesn’t seem to blend in. Should I paint it white or change the brick into tile? I know there is also veneer kind of thing I can put on top of the brick so there are 3 options?

The brick just looks very dirty and hard to clean.

From your last comment I’m gathering you just really don’t like this fireplace at all...the brick or the wood burning aspect of it. Then by all means convert it to gas, and tile over it if that’s what you like. It won’t add or subtract any quantifyable value from the house, brick wood burning or tile gas are still both fireplaces and there will still be people that like one over the other or both or neither. From the one photo it looks like a pretty brick color with a really nice shape/detail to it. But if it’s not your jam then it’s just not your jam. Paint is much cheaper then the other options you’ve mentioned, but paint will only lessen the brick part, it’s still wood burning.

It is a nice fireplace in a style that never goes out of style.

You will be rolling the dice so far as getting a good result using the large format tile in your inspo pictures. If you go ahead, be sure to vet your tilesetter--you need an artist, not a handyman.

One thing in favor of a wood burning FP is that it is a secondary source of heat (not a great source) during power outages like what happened in TX this past winter. Or for when the utility company gets hacked & shut down for ransom.

Another thought if you don't have money to burn--you could bump the bookcases out from the wall 6-8 inches, hang ceiling to floor drapes over the fireplace. Plunk a sofa down in front of it...

More background about the remodeling project. The living room is a sunken living room and we are raising it to level with the dining room etc. We need to raise it about 8 inches. This fireplace is in the sunken living room. Since the fireplace has a layer of brick that is raised right now and we are going to make the fireplace flush with the new hardwood flooring, we will be raising the fireplace up for about 5.5 inches (8inches - thickness of the one layer brick + thickness of hardwood flooring that will be installed). It is about the thickness of 2 layers of normal red brick and a little more than one layer of the brick that is inside of the fireplace.

After raising the fireplace, the opening of the fireplace dimension will be about 24 inch tall * 36 inches wide. Will it look OK?

If it is still a “normal” size opening for the fireplace, I tend to want to keep the wood burning fireplace as I can paint it white and it is still functional.

Raised 2 layers of normal brick height. Does it look OK or this will destroy the wood burning fireplace? I am just not sure if there is a standard size for the wood burning fireplace.