Holy smoke! IMO I love that fireplace. How old is your house?
If I were to do a mosaic, I'd do a facade over the original tile, and mosaic or tile that.
BTW, Elmo is such a cutie standing there!!

What's Elmo saying, looks like he is saying back off. I like it like it is also.

I like the fireplace also but if you wanted to mosaic it, I would do as BAMA suggests and make something to cover the original tilework and mosaic that using thinset.

Went to my niece's last weekend for her daughter's 2nd birthday and she had the same toys!!!! She loves her Elmo!!!!!

Barb

So...I'm pretty into the fireplace, also. However, things can look totally different in pictures than in real life. Of course its a matter of what you're personal taste is. I would build a covering of sorts using cement backer board. It's pretty thin, so it wouldn't stick out a whole lot. The only trick would be the edges. If you do it this way, then the next person that lives in your house can reveal the original work. OR, you may decide to go back to it. We're not seeing the whole room. Maybe the paint colors don't "go." If you build this type of facade, I think your possibiities would be endless!!

How about mosaicing inside those cross shapes, and painting the celtic lines (the brown lines) with something BRIGHT (I love bright colors!) I'm on the fence, I like the DESIGN, but the colors are too dark and heavy. Go with the colors in those TOYS!

Oh man, it really is ugly...trust me. The grout is awful...uneven and discolored. Everything but the dark green was painted by hand (by the original owners) and it's obvious close-up. I plan to have the gas logs removed, clean the inside, trash the old screen and do SOMETHING with the tiles. The mantel is so understated...I would like to bring it out some. This house was built in 1927. It's got a cute traditional look...high ceilings, crown moulding...stuff like that. So, I can't go too contemporary with the colors and design. But I HAVE to do something. The difficulty is that the fireplace sits beside a built in closet. The door frame comes within a half an inch from the fireplace. So building a facade would be tricky at best. I dunno! I was hoping ya'll could give me a miracle solution...heheh.

Why not try a paint remover first to see what color the tiles were originally? The grout should be easy to spruce up, just dremel out the old, put in new.

I SO LOVE the design! Why not prime it all and start experimenting with paint colors? Try the 99 cent craft paints--not much expense there! Slow taught me that if you don't like something, disguise it! My house is full of disguises!

I say if you hate it get rid of it, it's your home and you're the one who has to look at it ALL the time.
I get old, I get historic...but it only counts in your own home if you like it. If those are for real old tiles, pry them off and sell them to someone who loves that stuff.
Only my 2cents.
Linlee