The angled brick facade with a strange shape and moulding around it to boot is what's dating it. If you removed the brick 'wings'. And put a wood facade over the upper portion with a mantle to below, painted or not. Would be very handsome. You wouldn't have to remove all the brick, just put a shell over it. I will attach a photo. Have fun, cheers!

The wings and insert really date the fireplace.

One idea is to remove the wings and cover w wood and cover above the mantel w Shiplap siding

You can paint the walls darker and wood white - leaving the brick.

I did this with stone similar to this picture.

Thanks! It's given me a lot to think about. I am not sure if we are going to be able to remove the wings. We have other projects and I'm not sure how much we will be able to spend.

Live with it for a year, collect ideabooks on Houzz of fireplaces that inspire you and save up the money to do it right. I agree, either remove the wings or keep the whole thing going up to the ceiling and refaced with stack stone.

The short term, not too expensive solution would be to paint out the brick, the louvered doors on the right side, and the outlining molding the same color as the wall to reduce the contrast and de-emphasize the weird shape. You could leave the hearth alone or paint it, too. I would consider eliminating the decorative arch things and the various cords running across the space. If some are for the TV, hide them better by running them along the molding. The metal frame around the fireplace can be painted with black heat tolerant paint. Good luck with the project!