Call me crazy, but I'd consider painting the brick white. I like the ceasarstone hearth and surround idea too. Ties the whole thing together really well and it's very durable. I'm thinking of using ceasarstone for my fireplace surround as well.

Oooo - thanks for the feedback, but that brick isn't meant to be a finished surface. I guess you can't really tell, but there are long, thin metal things installed in the mortar that were used to help hold the old stone face on. You can see that where the old stone used to wrap around, there is now the non-combustible 2x4 equivalent for the sidewall, so it can have sheetrock on it. The brick is really a base that needs something; either cement board and then spackle or sheetrock, or we could tile or marble the entire thing, but have no direction for WHAT new material to add to the mix, or we could hire our mosaic artist who is doing our backsplash to come make a masterpiece...or something more simple and affordable - we really need a good decision.

OK, everyone, it's a new week and I'm ready to hear all the fresh and SO cool ideas you can come up with for this fireplace solution!

And, thanks a bunch in advance!

My idea may be totally off-base, but what I am seeing in my mind is built-in shelving for favorite decorative items, or, as would be the case in my kitchen, an extensive collection of cookbooks.

It is not clear to me whether you are looking for ideas for finishing up the fireplace (e.g. mantle design ideas, surrounding stone patterns etc.) -- or have a more fundamental question on what to do with this niche that could be potentially used as a fireplace!

I have seen some pizza ovens, and the way they are constructed is, there is fire underneath a brick floor, which gets heated by the fire, and a small niche to keep the pizza for baking. Maybe you could consider that! Especially if this space is a part of the kitchen, then that would be wonderful!

I watched an HGTV episode recently where they placed several layers of compound right over the brick; sanding and smoothing in between coats until they achieved the desired surface. They then built a surround with mulitple layers of MDF and built up a molding. Inside the surround they laid out a light colored stone... something like a flagstone. On either side they built white open shelving to house home theater equipment. Sounds a little like what you want. Now... I'm a HUGE fan of glass tile but once you do it... you're kind of married to it due to expense. The beauty of this "spackle" treatment... is you can change out the color, making it an accent wall or blend it in with the existing cabinetry giving it a real built in look. The episode was pretty cool because the chiseled out the stone to create a thick deep enough groove into which they laid tubing through which they ran the all the wires for the home theater equipment. So many ideas out there.....

Once you do the surround, I don't think you're going to have all that much space on the left side. I'm thinking maybe just put a nice tall objects d'art on that side on the cabinet ledge and possibly some sort of artwork on top.

Maybe do a google image search for fireplaces, you might get some good ideas. I have a brown brick full wall 13'X8' fireplace that I haven't done anything with since we moved into our house(14 years ago). I know the feeling. It's like the elephant in the room.

I'm thinking it might work to connect it visually to the room to the right of the fireplace (with the bow window and beautiful wood paneling). Perhaps you panel it in a similar wood and finish as that and pick up on that. A lot of older homes have beehive fireplaces (which this reminds me of a little with its asymetry) that are paneled in old natural wood while the cabinets are something entirely different. Perhaps you could get some old salvaged paneling with a nice patina?

I like the idea of the wood storage below, however, I am concerned about cabinets above on either side. I think it might look too crowded and would not do good things considering the asymetry.

It's too small of an area to get carried away with. I'd probably cover it w/ white stucco & top it with a hand hewn timber mantel.

Also, I think I'd add another vertical layer of firebrick inside the fireplace on the right side before doing the stucco. That would make the firebox a bit smaller but I think it would help with the visual balance.

Thanks! These ideas are great and getting us thinking again, which is what we really needed! Keep 'em comin!

Have you tried posting on the Fireplaces Forum?