What is there is classic and works well with the emerging trends of the new jewel tones. Or it's equally at home with a neutral palette. It is not worth the not inconsiderable expense of ripping it out and repacing it.

HI -- That green marble may pop right off if it has been there for a long time . I think the mosaic tiles that are a cream and light tans mixture in a chevron pattern would be perfect there . Painting the old marble would not look very classy . I can see why you want the old gone ... it does seem very 80's . Also get rid of the brass strip on the screen or get a new screen . Crate and Barrel has some wonderful new fireplace screens now .

I've spray painted over the gold and it has worked well.

I had a decorator suggest a great paint color to tone down the green. I love it! It totally changed the look of my room and cost me very little. The color is like a dark brown/grey. It's possibly called brown fox. I know it had the name fox in it.

tweingartner do you have a picture of your re-painted fireplace...I have the exact one

That black surround sure makes a difference

This last picture was a great solution , in my opinion . Very pretty and updated looking !

That looks amazing..This is exactly like ours except out marble goes in a layer of marble on the floor...Changing it from white to the color you did, looks so good

Wow! We have the same problem. Guess the green marble was a big hit then. The black surround was a great solution.

Jeff- did you try peel and stick tile? We have same marble in our 1929 home. It’s cracked and beyond repair according to a couple restoration companies. Would love a solution.

As you can see, marble was most likely installed prior to the wood which goes to ceiling. We are getting ready for a home remodel which will include new flooring in this room. Need to address this before installing flooring. I’m stumped. Any creative ideas?

We did not. I'm okay with it now that the mantle was painted. It really toned the green down.

Thinking of buying a large, black free standing screen to camouflage crack and calling it a day.

I am actually changing my mantle to a Empress Green marble. The previous mantle had a lot of millwork and beige and brown speckled granite the previous owners picked. It overpowered a very small living room in a 1953 ranch style house with walkout basement. I want to hang a fancy gold mirror over the fireplace, but couldn’t because of the millwork.

Since I’ve lived the last 4 months with just subflooring in the living room, it was a good opportunity to change the fireplace. Turns out it was a good idea. The supporting bricks needed to be re-mortared and it was a real chore to find the marble that fit my thoughts for the fireplace (hard to find).

The man doing the work was shocked. I pulled out a large piece of packing paper and we started drawing. What I want is truly very simple. The hearth stone would be the green marble like what you have and once the bricks are fixed, 2 front vertical pieces to cover the bricks, 4 side vertical pieces to cover the bricks and 1 top piece to cover the top. The 6 vertical and 1 horizontal top piece will have mitered edges. The impact will be significantly smaller than what was there before.

Even with the mantel removed it already looks better to me.

I have a round marble table my father made using this exact green marble back in the 1960s. Of all things I also inherited 4 orange bucket office chairs that go with it (very comfortable). One can seat 6 to 8 people around the table and the stone is beautiful - like a jewel. I was thinking of putting it in my old (remodeled dining room - now extension of my living room as a work table or kitchen table, so that the light could play off of it and the fireplace which is just a short distance away. Well, I’ll put it there when my project is finished in a month and a half.

While looking for the right slab, I was told that spider green marble (from India) or Empress green marble (from China), which are similar in color, are very popular now, particularly in commercial work like lobbies, elevator banks and so on. This was true back in the 1950’s as well.

I am looking forward to see the finished project that is my remodel. I spent the entire pandemic dreaming about my remodel of my kitchen, hall bathroom, living room floor, dining room floor, and addition of a window, extensive remodel of an addition to the house to permit more light to enter into parts of the interior and the final positive is turning the attached garage into an accessory dwelling unit - which my daughter has her eye on for when her apartment lease runs out. (That was not my plan when I began the plan).

I know my husband has enjoyed seeing the transformation.

What was old is new again.