I had a question for you :) We have a wood-burning stove in a room we're currently using as a "playroom" (mainly because the space is weird, and we don't know what to do with it.) We had a lovely storm up here in New England about this time last year, and lost power in my neighborhood for 10 days straight, and this wood burning stove came in REALLY handy. Before that outage, I was 100% ready to remove the thing altogether.

But really, the thing I HATE about this stove is 1) where/how it's positioned; and 2) that ghastly brick all around it (that isn't properly put in place either, as there's a huge gap between it and the wall to the right of it)

(I'm attempting to add a photo of it so you can see. Sorry about the mess - like I said, it's a playroom/exercise room and it's a complete mess right now as we redo our kitchen - we have to get it all cleaned up before wood-burning season appears)

I was wondering if there was a way to remove the god-awful brick - especially the rounded spot on the floor that takes up WAY more room then necessary - and then put a nicer-looking surround with a small footprint so we can still have the stove. I've never attempted to do something like this before, and I wonder what goes into it/how difficult it would be.

Another thought I had was - see that ledge right behind the stove? That's the house foundation, which is about 9" deep. I was thinking about possibly replacing the stove with a BIS, and lift it above the foundation. Any thoughts and/or suggestions?