Pictures and knowing what type of fireplace it is (gas, wood burning, with insert, without insert) will help us to help you. Board and batten isn't fireproof though, so that cladding may have to be rethought close to the firebox.

Here is a picture of the fireplace. It is wood burning.

Here is another picture.

One more. Thanks for the help!

I find it charming for a Tudor or storybook style home. Or even a Southwestern or cottage one. I think all it really needs is to be set off with an accent paint color and a really chunky rustic mantle.

I'd be very very careful planning any project for this fireplace that took it away from the bones of the rest of the home. What style is the home?

I find it charming for a Tudor or storybook style home. Or even a Southwestern or cottage one. I think all it really needs is to be set off with an accent paint color and a really chunky rustic mantle.

I'd be very very careful planning any project for this fireplace that took it away from the bones of the rest of the home. What style is the home?

I'm choosing the board and batten finish to tie the living room into a bathroom with the same treatment and some built in corner shelves in the dining room. I don't think it will take much away from the style of the house. There are many quirky details that will be left around. I just find the fireplace to be an eyesore. Anyone know if it is possible to extend the bricks around the opening out to be flush with the new, framed out vertical surface?

That fireplace is NOT an eyesore! I like it. What's been done to it to minimize it isn't helping. It's got to be treated like the focal point that it is.

Killing a neat fireplace to make the room match the nearby bathroom is kind of a weird way to go. How about redoing the bathroom?

I do think some work on the front if the fireplace to bring it back to its former glory is in order. I'd like to see the surround and hearth redone, maybe with a nice Pewabic tile.

I also like the fireplace. And considering the amount of work and no guarantee that it will look as good once done as it does in your mind's eye, I would like to propose you consider the beefier rustic mantel idea but work the board and batten material into the mantel. Good luck.

I'm not sure how board and batten will work with your wonderful rough plaster. B&B (or flat-panel wainscot) is really more consistent with colonial, shaker, or arts-and-crafts/craftsman house styles. Your home, from what little the pictures show, is more storybook or English cottage style. Are those coved ceilings in the living room?

Keep the wainscot in the bathroom, but don't spread it into the rest of the house -- it won't work.

The fireplace is wonderful and unusual. I agree with the others that a heavier mantel shelf set it off beautifully.

You have a charming home as it is. Play up its character rather than trying to turn it into something it isn't.

Another vote for keeping the neat fireplace and improving the surround. A great place to show off some fancy tile.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Nice original vintage fireplace with a well-done tapering chimney. It's had some alterations - tile removed, and hearth mangled - but it's in good condition.

I also vote to play up the period of the fireplace and not make it into something it isn't. Board and batten would not usually have covered a fireplace, except in the heavily paneled Tudors and

Imagine it with some period-appropriate tiles on the surround and the hearth