I love the mantel and the corner desk; but I would paint the ceiling and the bricks cream, leaving the dark mantel and I would leave the ledge of the fireplace in the bricks. Love contrasts. Also, when you get that cute desk chair and lap up at the corner of the fireplace, you will love that you kept it.

Definitely paint the brick!

I love the exposed beams on the ceiling, and while I'm usually one for keeping exposed brick, painting it white would open up the room so much in this case.

just wait....we have the solution...it will be a world of difference. I've got to find the photo tomorrow in the office.

doing the following in the exact order listed below..
1. remove the ceiling fan and throw it away.
2. remove the false ceiling beams and add them to the trash with the fan.
3. remove the brick from the top of the mantel up ..salvage and patch in wood box...keep the wood and termites outside !
4. patch wall and paint or patch with painted paneling similar to long wall
5. maintain dark brick, dark mantel.
6. add artwork above mantel
7. install low voltage led light strip, full length of mantel to upwash the artwork

I have a similar brick fireplace wall that I have hated for years. I painted it the same color as the rest of the walls and painted the top of the hearth gray. It's still not perfect but it looks so much better than it did. I say paint it....

Paint it Old White with Anne Silke Chalk Paint. Then pull off the front of the fireplace and paint it (brass included) with a high heat spray paint. You will love it. I'd do that first and the decide if you want to keep the mantel dark.

from above

Like what Arcanum has going on but would still trim back the angled piece of wood encroaching on the white wall on right. Get some pretty wood and frame that space. Bring in colored rug and build from there. It already looks better in this picture.

Don't paint !!

I agree with greenthumb2

I agree with greenthumb2

well here are the results.

i realize furniture needs to be reaarranged, log box still needs painting and we need a new firescreen. its just day one!!

Good for you sweetie, you are on your way.

Alot of you asked for pics of the other side of the room. well here it is..

There really should be no rules to home decor.. With one exception, that the home owners love there surroundings. Sounds like you are! :-) blessings on your new home.

Oops.."their" surroundings . :-)

I think you shoud paint the entire room, including the fireplace a soft white and stain the mantel to match the floor. I would remove the half wall wall between the kitchen and family room and create a more open floor plan to update the house.

WOW!!!! Looks great! Similar to what Sheila said, at least remove the spindles on the top of the half wall.
Congrats on your new home!

I think this looks so much better, and it makes the room look so much brighter!

Yes, I would paint it an off white, not stark white, leave the mantle the same, or darker,perhaps change the bookshelves to black, if you need them otherwise take them out, and perhaps one wall black, daring but gorgeous! In the other room take the wall out! Ceiling fan out too. take the FP screen out, and it will be lovely

Please don't paint the bricks white! Covering up a poor design doesn't make it go away.

If it were my house, I would cover that entire brick wall in a light colored Venetian plaster, but first I would fill in that gap along the top of the brick with drywall and remove that wood mantel to use afterwards.

Next, I would also sheet rock over that shelf space and cover that whole area too. That way you have one continuous wall that stands out as a beautiful focal point. Keep the opening where the logs go for balance (and it's quite practical) but line the bottom of it with something sturdy like wood or stone. The plaster will get banged up by the logs. Make sure to seal your Venetian plaster too.

For contrast, I would a darker colored plaster on the hearth portion (horizontal surface to floor) and use lighter color on the vertical part of the wall from the hearth up to ceiling.

Then install your original wood mantel except this time center it on the wall from left to right, and maybe not so high.Lean a large mirror or painting on your mantel. Visually that would give you a pyramid effect and really capture that area as a focal point.

Venetian plaster can look sleek and modern, old and weathered, or it can mimic marble, stone, metal, etc. The cost if you do it yourself? Maybe a couple hundred bucks, TOPS!

Make sure you buy a couple big boxes of drywall mud ($8. each) and fill in all the groves between bricks in stages, then coat entire area with the cheap mud before you start using the Venetian plaster. http://www.home-remodeling-decorating.com/remodel-fireplace.html#axzz2DRdVXv00

This page has a video I made while doing my own fireplace:
http://www.home-remodeling-decorating.com/remodel-ideas-for-fireplaces.html#axzz2DRdVXv00

Buy a corner TV cabinet to go where that shelf was and put a mirror on the white wall opposite the windows, iif you didn't already put one above the mantle, and you want more light reflected back into the room.

Here's an example of what it could look like:
http://www.sunset.com/home/decorating/chic-fireplace-update-00400000012176/

Down with the half wall and you'll be almost done! What do you plan as a ceiling fixture instead of the fan/light? Take a look at drum chandeliers here on Houzz under products.

i was thinking it should be low profile and not call attention to the ceiling

I think that the bookcase on the right makes the fireplace wall look unbalanced. If you could resize it and put a matching unit on the left side it would look better. If you could do away with the bookcase and drywall both sides to match, I think that would be best.

One of the easiest home projects we did was removing the bricks and putting in stack rock. Once you get the top row or any row of bricks off (hard), it comes off in sheets. Very, very heavy. Had to break the sheets apart to get them out of house. But well worth it. This was a much smaller area, but done in a weekend.

I had the same dilemma several years ago. I hired a faux painted who performed a miracle. See the attached images

I dry walled my big brick fireplace and painted it the same color as the walls. it looks great!

I had a brick fireplace. I used joint compound (to resemble "old-world" plaster) and then painted it. It takes many coats but the results are stunning!!

I covered mine with sheetrock

Your fireplace looks almost exactly like our old fireplace. What we did will probably horrify some people, but it works for us. We put our T.V. in front of the fireplace opening on the raised hearth. My husband, using white bottom kitchen cabinets from home depot, made built in bookcase/storage units on each side of the TV. We removed the hideous fake wood mantle which my husband replaced with a pretty white mantle that he built using and large plank of wood with crown molding. The new mantle is just above the TV so everything looks very built in. I have a nice painting above the mantle. We never used the fireplace, so it works for us.

Why try to hide an elephant in the room? Yes, paint it! You could do a whitewash pickling stain effect. Or, you could go with a 'rustic' painted look, like this example, http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/dry-brushing-the-fireplace/index.html. I have a similar smaller brick fireplace issue, and I am going to go with the 'rustic' look. If you want to go bold, you could consider painting the bookshelf red. I did that in another house and it looked awesome (walls were painted Sherwin William SW 6251 Outerspace, ceiling the same color, but only 10-20% of the wall color) and a dark wood floor. The room looked great!

No Paint!, Have it plastered white, and leave the bottom part brick, it'll be dirty and dusty all the time....Keep the beams!!!

great idea.....love it ~

To see a BEFORE & AFTER of fireplace transformations & interior designer tips, check out these two sites

http://www.transformingrooms.blogspot.com

http://www.transformingrooms.com

just type in whatever your interests are in the SEARCH BOX such as

fireplace paint
front door paint
bedroom layout
where to hang flat screen
window treatment ideas
adding color to a room
narrow living room
what shape dining table
etc etc

I for sure would paint the ceiling, leaving the beams dark or paint the beams and leave the ceiling a color. We have a soft white on our LR walls, ceiling beams (high ceiling) and woodwork. The ceiling is painted a beautiful green (similar to the carpet)...the room is bright, restful and beautiful. Just a suggestion

yes white but if you are thinking that it will deface the bricks then consider covering it with something you can paint over with any colour but which could be removed by others if you sell the house!

It looks like everyone has commented on this FP! I can't imagine my having a new idea you haven't heard already. Agree: paint -- something. It doesn't have to be white. Can't tell what the ceiling is, but painting it white would help a lot, but you could paint the FP a color - not anything dark, but maybe something bright. If this is a play room, a place you don't plan to be formal, there's a lot of fun colors that would make it an outstanding room. Turquoise? LIme? Chrome yellow? Not red unless it's tomato red. You're only going to do it once because it's a huge amount of work, so don't decide on white in a rush.

And consider spraying the paint on. Much faster. Just requires a little work to protect floors and other walls. There are small sprayers that don't create the kind of mess you'd think.

I would remove the mantel and give yourself the option of mounting a TV on that brick if tv-viewing is a plan.

I like it white and so glad you kept the mantle. If you can't take down that half wall, maybe remove the spindels for a more open feel.

The OP painted the fireplace 3 months ago.

Do not paint it white. Instead, lime wash it. It will lighten it but also leave you with a natural stone. Lime washing can be done lightly or it can be done to give an almost white outcome. If you like the look of natural stone, lime wash is the way to go!

What's your style; contemporary, retro, traditional, transitional, eclectic - can you post a few pictures of rooms that you like.

This fireplace is brick covered with a thin pieces of wood and painted. The mantle is completely boxed and removable.

the fire place should be white its to dark that way

Looks so much better jenniehr.. .good luck

I'd paint it in a heartbeat! Of course, it's been two years and I still haven't the courage to paint my own :(

Please do not paint the brick, it is beautiful just as it is. I would like to suggest updating the mantel and painting it an accent color. I would also remove the shelves/desk and paint the walls a softer color such as Sherwin Williams Basket Beige SW6143 to compliment the brick. Adding greenery to the area where the shelves and desk are will soften the area and pair nicely with the brick wall.

Hi Tristan! I've painted brick fireplaces twice -- most recently for the glamor makeover of my living room with Bronson, shown in the attached photo. In this case, we primed then painted it black and wow did it transform the entire room! Black against a black wall worked beautifully, as did another I did in white against white walls. My only regret with that (black) living room is that I didn't paint the fireplace sooner. Cheers! --T

Wow - this looks awesome! Not everyone can live with a black wall, and I'd want to see the rest of the room to know how well it works - but it sure seems to be dramatic enough to be a beautiful focal point. Brave homeowners. More people should take a risk with paint - it's so easy to change if you don't like it, and makes such a difference in such a short time, with little investment. We did a more drastic, and much more expensive, makeover to our fireplace area, after years of living with painted brick. We removed the vintage ( & unsafe) wood chip insulation behind the brick and did it properly, added antique leaded windows for more light in the room, after adding another pane of glass so they're now triple-glazed, cut down & painted out our 25-year-old bookcases to match the surrounding walls, installed an airtight insert, found a bargain on slate tile for the hearth,and used cultured stone (my one concession) for the facade. Not only does it add much-needed light to the room, but it's now a source of heat instead of sucking energy up the fireplace.