Maybe painting out the entire wall, bookcases, fireplace mantle and bulking up the trim would pull the wall together. You could do a mortar technique on the fireplace brick. You are right, the eye doesn't know where to go.

Yes! We do have chairs for layering, and that's exactly where they're going.

Hi Judi---2 quick questions. Are you leaving the trim as is or painting it white? What is your design style?

There is a lot going on here. Personally I think the mantle should be removed and the brick should extended to the ceiling. You can paint the brick a dark brown for a more contemporary look. You could ten put the TV above fireplace to help get a single focal point. I agree with above comment about repainting the back of the bookshelves before you tear them out.

The drapes on the right are distracting, I am sure someone will give a good suggestion about what to do with them. Also, I thing the ceiling fan is questionable, especially if it has a light on it.

Some nice recessed and dimmable and adjustable recessed lighting would help.

Good luck.....

Hi, Natalie. We are moving into a very traditional style house, but my style leans more toward contemporary and contemporary rustic. I love white trim in a traditional home like this, but the natural trim will likely stay for quite a while. It is uniform throughout the house, and painting a 4000 sq ft house worth of trim isn't a near-term plan. To give you an idea, the first image on this link is of our current home: https://www.houzz.com/magazine/50-valentines-to-home-stsetivw-vs~1433240

I think melibd has the right idea...paint the entire wall the same color, including the bookcases and the trim (walls in eggshell, trim and cases in semigloss). You might try, however, painting the oak mantel a slightly deeper shade to create that focal point. You can paint the brick too or use some sort of surface treatment. If you're at all handy you could take off the mantel, add black marble tiles with white graining to the firebox surround, then replace the mantel with the existing or a new one. In that instance, you could paint the hearth either the wall color or black. Do paint the oak trim in the room. For the window, add a rod under the ceiling and have simple panels to the floor. In time, you could consider adding a deep crown (5 inches or so) and maybe adding something like a keystone over the cases (this is a reasonably priced fix, less than trying to add new, bulkier moldings around the entire bookcase). Placing objects and books on the shelves is important...you need some bulk. If you're adventuresome you could cover your books in cream vellum wrappers and create a beautiful, textured display while not detracting from the new focal point of the fireplace. A bench in front of the fireplace will hide the bulky raised hearth. Hope these ideas are helpful!

Beautiful...why did you move??!!

Before going to the expensive of removing the built in bookshelves you might paint them the same color as the walls. I agree with your idea of adding wood floors as hardwood always adds character over wall-to-wall. Lastly, once you select the wall color, consider painting the brick, mantel and support columns white or the same color as the trim. Right now you have a color palette of off-white for the rug, brown pine, red brick, maple colored fireplace trim and greenish walls. All the colors in a room create the color palette including the wood tones, so be sure that is what you want.

I have included a couple photos of a fireplace wall that this reminds me of that I recreated. It started out as a raised brick hearth such as yours, flanked by built-in bookshelves. Unfortunately the before picture isn't all that clear but if you look carefully you will see what we started with. The results were really quite family friendly. Your ceiling isn't all that high so that will have to be factored in as well if you go with a complete redo.

Hope this helps...

I would suggest painting the mantle a creamy white. Prior to painting also consider beefing up the mantle with some trim molding for a more formal look. Paint your arched niches to match the mantle and reconfigure the interior shelves so that you have 3 equally spaced compartments for a cleaner more symmetrical look.

Hi Jodi,

My suggestion would be to paint the mantle, trim and shelves an off white. That will bring a more unified look to the room and enhance the paint color. I'd then whitewash the brick to tone done the fireplace- since you aren't a huge brick fan to begin with. However, getting rid of the brick all together would be sad. I think it brings a nice earthy feel to the space and works will with the paint color, and the wood flooring that you plan to extend into the room.

I'm attaching a photo of what your fireplace could look like, and the paint color/trim happen to be similar to the color scheme you already have.

Thanks for sharing, please post the finished project regardless of what direction you go in. Good luck!

Thanks, Sharon. My husband's career has us relocating to another state. We're keeping our current house, though. Can't bear to let it go.

Granite Transformations: I love the gray/cream combo, as well as the subtler brick.

Thanks to everyone. These are all great ideas.

I would redo the fireplace entirely. You could then have a matching mantel and entertainment center to help tie keep consistency. You could even have the entertainment center build around the fireplace like the photo posted by Melibd. This would give you more storage and less visual distractions.

Go right over the brick of the fireplace and raised hearth with the petrified wood tile. Deep rich walls SW 7039 Virtual Taupe or SW 7046 Anonymous (pic of desk). I suggest wallpapering the inside of the shelves/niches with a removable vinyl. Cool Light fixture and unique chair. Good Luck! [houzz=][[houzz=][houzz=]houzz=][houzz=][houzz=][houzz=][houzz=][houzz=][houzz=][houzz=]

@Natalie: The wood tile is interesting. I have not seen that before. Love the antelope (I've been looking at similar on Etsy and other sites) and aviator club chair (my husband is a pilot).

So, I'm revisiting the idea of painting the trim in this room. It is very open to the kitchen and breakfast area. Not quite great room-style, but close. There is a 10-foot-wide open entry between this room and the other spaces. Would it look odd to have this one room with painted trim and adjacent areas with darker wood trim. Is there a way to avoid a hard transition?

Hi Jodi-
nice to hear some of those items appeal to you. As for the molding and mantel, I suggested a dark wall color so the woodwork would kind of "visually" disappear. The less contrast the better... To answer your question: I do not think you could get away with painting the trim, etc. in this room only. Wait for awhile and then if you wish to change it, do the entire house at once---much-much easier. Hope this is helpful. CheerS!