db3512 - I have just recently (last 12 months) finished removing my fireplace. It was a double sided version of yours. 6 feet wide and 5 feet thick. It was not an easy task! First, this is a best guess. The brick from about the top of the flue on up the ceiling will likely be backed by framing and a header; no drywall. Below that it will likely be part of the firebox structure. You could conceivably remove it with a lot of work and mess. A 5-7lb sledge works best to just splinter the brick. Get the one with a wedge shaped end. It breaks the brick better. The brick breaks easier than the mortar so don't waste your time trying to chip at the motar. Once the upper brick is out, the mortar generally comes out pretty easily. I would also wait until spring as your heat will go right out the new hole you have created. If you can, get into your attic and look down along the chimney to validate. I could see the entire back side of the brick walls down to the firebox. About widening your firebox, in short sure if you have enough money you can do anything. Not to be flip but if you want to enlarge your firebox, you are looking at tearing out your fireplace and rebuilding it. Again that assumes it is a real fireplace and not a brick façade of some sort. Good Luck!!

drystonemason - thanks for the offer! I wish you lived in Colorado. My husband and I have a 70's wall o' brick. Really, the entire back wall of our den is covered in blond brick and the sides have custom built (70's style) cabinetry over the brick. We are planning to rip the cabinets out but our question is, what is the best way to reface this much brick? We plan to put travertine tile below the mantel to break up the look but on the rest of the wall, from what we have read, we have a few options. 1) Use a lime based plaster (not drywall compound) to fill in grout lines and eventually build up and smooth out to a rough, toweled on surface 2) Use mortar and stucco to achieve the same look. 3) Using drywall we can either frame out the whole wall and start over or use liquid nails (a lot of it) to put sheetrock on the areas that are not tiled. Hoping you might have some suggestions on what the easiest route would be considering it IS a whole wall. I will see if I can get a picture to insert which might be helpful.

I have brick around my range and down the entire wall, but have 27" of cabinet and filler between the range and the brick wall. So far the inner walls don't look any different than the outer walls, but I'm pretty sure we're pulling around 1500-1800 cfm with the hood and we run it almost every time we cook. That being said, there is no way that I would put it on a backsplash. Our brick is really rough too, and requires a scrub brush to actually clean splatters. I've debated on whether or not to seal it at least on the inner walls, but have yet to do so. I just shop vac with the brush attachment or use a broom to dust off the cobwebs every couple weeks. I think of all the things that I've dealt with choosing, trying to settle on a wall color and backsplash were the hardest due to the multiple colors of the bricks. I wasn't sure if a small subway type tile would be too busy with the brick, but I'm sure others can chime in. I'm 99.9% sure that I'll be using a pink marble tile for the backsplash. I think the polished surface will be a nice contrast against the rough brick, and I think the colors coordinate well with my brick.

The only 2 story fireplaces I like are stone and are super wide. You need the width to keep the height proportional or it will look like a skinny strip of stone. I don't know what style house you have but if it was my style I'd do that whole fireplace wall in that horizontal plank wainscoting. I've included a link with an example. We upgraded from brick to stone and it was about 400-500 more. I've attached a picture of ours. We didn't do a solid piece of stone for the hearth to save money. Here is a link that might be useful: Horizontal plank wall