Hello everyone.

We just bought our house and we are having a bit of trouble figuring out what to do with the fireplace. Our living room wall color is BM Revere Pewter (I know it looks a little taupe at times in the pictures, but the walls are grey), light wood floors, grey couch with chartreuse, royal blue, and teal accents.

The fireplace has a light wood mantel with a tile surround and plaster painted the same color as the walls (Revere Pewter). Since the plaster surround was painted the same color as the walls, it seems to make the fireplace disappear into the wall. We are going to be installing a gas insert (most likely a Heat Glo with the Chateau Forge Front) in the next few months but we wanted change the look of the fireplace before it was installed.

We have a tight budget and I would hopefully just like to paint it. We would like it to be a showpiece in the living room. I have no idea what to do. Is there anyway paint can fix this? Paint it white? What shade? Paint the mantel? Add stone (although we rather not do that at this point)? It just looks so unfinished. Any other suggestions are welcome.

I haven't really stylized the items on the mantel yet and realize they are way too small. I just wanted to put something up there until we figure out what to do. And we are going to move the TV to another wall.

Thank you for your help!