Should I brick/board up the fireplace?

[compact]

I have a terrace house and plastering the back downstairs room.

I have removed the horrid old 60's fire surround and there is a hole, 2ft by 4ft.

The questions is what to do with it.

We will be renting the room out as a bedroom for 6 mths, then selling the house.
The easiest solution is to board it up and plaster across, though was thinking, if it was a plastered hole, painted white with the now very typical large grey pebbles off the beach, it could be more appeal to a buyer, who may wish to turn the room into a dinning room etc.

Question is, how would I do this? how hard is it? Is it worth it?

(a weekend of DIY,football and Rugby ahead, what a manly weekend haha)

 

[roughcaster]

Do it with brick or plasterboard.With plasterboard,you would build a wooden frame with 3"x2"s and fix your plasterboard (12mm foil-backed) to it,set back a bit to allow for a coat of plaster.Also, cut back the original plaster around the old opening a good bit to let the new plaster feather in.Or you could build it with blocks,tied in of course.Either way,you would need to fix a small air-vent to the wall,a few inches above skirting board level to allow airflow.It is also better to have the chimney cleaned first.

Roughcaster.