Awful brick fireplace HELP!

[tinsel1957]

We have a red brick fireplace in our lounge. We can't afford to pay someone to remove it and replace it with something else and I've already tried painting it which, quite frankly, has made it look worse. Has anyone got any ideas what we can do with it to make it look better?

[kira000]

Couldn't you have it rendered in some way, to make a smooth surfaced fire place?

[kira000]

Or possibly tiled, so it looks more like this:
http://www.getdecorating.com/fireplaces.cfm?ma ster=23938&page=1&CFID=12400334&CFTOKEN=956825 78

[kira000]

There is a before and after of a rendered fireplace if you scroll down to C).

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http: //www.mr-renovator.com.au/melbourne/before-aft er-pictures/other-projects/tiled-hearth.jpg&im grefurl=http://www.mr-renovator.com.au/melbour ne/constructions/other-projects.htm&usg=__GyS8 RpOZgQ8nypGmtH6oKbGkzaw=&h=960&w=1280&sz=206&h l=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=gEdp9YI65h6MlM:&tbnh=1 13&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drendered%2Bfire place%2Bpictures%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3 Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official% 26sa%3DX

[tinsel1957]

Thanks Kira000, those are great ideas and thanks for the links :)