I'm a big fan of white trim and woodwork, but if I had a room like this, I don't think I could bring myself to paint it. It's gorgeous! Does it open up to the rest of the house where it looks different from the other rooms?

Would you also paint the door and baseboards? There's something about this room that's so inviting and cozy! The previous owners did a great job building-on, IMO.

I am a huge fan of painted wood, but the stain in your house is very lovely. What about covering the brick with slate, glass mosaics, or crackled subway and see if that makes you happy. You could always go back and paint the trim if it still felt too heavy. I would probably cover the little "wood" door it it was not necessary. Another thought is to paint all the woodwork except the beams and actual mantle and legs. But again I think 'hiding" the brick will help out the most. Good luck with your new house.

Yes, it opens up to a library area and to a crazy 'hallway' with doors to the upstairs, the MBR, and the dining room. I will try to post other pics.

Having seen your other rooms it does seem that you should paint everything so that the whole effect is not disjointed. The fireplace brick is something I would also paint since the brick is not memorable. I think the great ceiling beams will have even more impact when the other woodwork is not competing. Such an interesting house, with lots of potential. As it is now the woodwork does seem to fight with the yellow paint and white trim in the one room.

I will take a stab at giving you a choice.

If it were me, I would paint the fireplace a darker tan, a sort of caramel color that had a bit of of a red tint to it and not a yellow one.

I would then match that color to some fabric to make cornices to go over the blinds, and paint the back of the shelves in the attached room the same color, and then paint the attached room tones a calming sage green, or the same tan/beige color that can be seen in the attached hallway/room.

You have a lot of wood tones that are all beautiful on their own, but seem to be in competition for the viewing eye.

If you look into the hallway outside the two front rooms, you can see a tan paint color and that would be a good choice I think. And, stitch together the whole look into one home and not a disjointed appearance, and not have to paint the original woodwork.

The other rooms have white trim work and the rooms you are considering have darker wood trim (except for the window trim in the attached room). You can change it all to white, but I think it you paint the walls the dark cream caramel color, you can blend the rooms and have a high end look and comfortable appeal.

It looks like a quality beautifully built home! You are lucky to have such a great home to work with for decorating!

Boy, I just like the wood in that room so much, even the very well used fireplace, I can't see painting either of them. Maybe a scrubbing to the brick, some nice tile trim around the opening?

This would be expensive but something I'd consider. Adding some french doors and two short walls on each side of them to enclose the library. That way you can have two separate rooms.

I don't usually think about mixing a lot of wood finishes, but I agree with what you said about painting the window and door trim.

The dark beams would be nice, and i would consider leaving the paneling dark for the time being.

I would consider painting the brick.

The room adjoins the house in an unusual way, however, unfurnished the empty rooms relate to each other differently than they will furnished.

I'm digging the fireplace and the beautiful woodwork. Call me crazy, but I even like the little wooden wood storage door. I would scrub down the brick, make any repairs needed, possible replace the fireplace screen, and add a hearth for sitting in front of the fire. I would get rid of the red wallpaper and yellow wall and bring in the great green color from the other rooms and cream. I don't think I would even paint around the window yet. I would do these other steps first and add some great window treatments and once your furniture and accessories are there, see where you are at. It just adds so much character. I wouldn't be too quick to slap paint on the woodwork. Love the idea about the walls and french doors. Maybe down the road? Good luck

I think if it was me, and it isn't so take it with a grain of salt..i would like to see the entire fireplace wood covered with some new wood..or another material..i was thinkin raised panels would be nice sometimes you can even use flat bulk cabinet doors to do that..measure and see what ones you can find to fit..and then use things like fluted moulding etc..in the other areas to fill in any gaps and create a fireplace surround..the panel doors would also solve the door problem..then build up a mantle with mouldings..paint it all the cream white that is used in the other rooms..and i would consider painting the beams the cream white as well....then i would paint the walls and the rest of the ceiling a matching color..if you like the yellow in the other room you might carry that through..or any other color that is at least 2 shades darker than the cream..that is on the mouldings and trim ..
use a small raised panel door over the "door" in the fireplace..it reminds me of an old fashioned englenook..and it could really be done cute if you used that idea to fashion an englnook..check out some of Mary Englbrieits books on her house..she has a lovely englenook in one of them..and you could adapt your fireplace to an englenook..as it has those deep set bricks..basically just fancy up all the wood areas with raised panels..or if you can't afford them..just cover with plain flat luan painted and trim it out with lots of mouldings..or if you want, you could also just prime prime prime prime prime and paint that pine creamy white..and go from there..but you'll really have to prime so that there is no bleed through on the knots..remove the dark behind the shelves and paint it to match the trim..cream..so the shelves don't look like little lines..they will look better with backing matching..that will make them look more built in and less like they were tacked on..if you can put some fancy mouldings on them..all the better to beef them up some..but they are fine as they are..the pastels and cream are really stunning..i would go with them or some other neutral colors like coffee with cream color, or caramel, or soft yellow ..soft sage green..with the cream..you will have a beautiful..soft ..traditional home..full of light..bright..and clean looking..

If it were mine, I'd use my Plaid acrylic paints from Michaels to touch up the smoke damage I assume (?) won't scrub off. So the bricks would look clean and new. Then I'd call it good and live with it for a while the way it is.