Fire place Dilemma

My husband and I want to do our fireplace to match our new decor. We have wood floors in a light maple, darkish brown furniture, white woodwork and we recently painted the room in a sunny yellow which harmonizes with the floor colour. Our fireplace has a white mantel in a traditional style and the rest of the fireplace surround is plaster in three tiers. My husband wants me to paint the outside white to match the mantel and a contrasting brown tone on the second tier. Then he wants to install tile-work on the tier nearest the actual gas fireplace which is black with gold-tone hardware. Do you think this sounds too fussy? All the pictures on your site of fireplaces seem much more streamlined with a pallet restricted to white and one other colour. Our living room is not large and is one with the dining area which is where I keep my grand piano (mahogany-toned wood)