The wrapped gift box around the wood stove is a fire hazard.

apple_pie_order, um presumably that was a joke, since they would certainly not be using the woodstove while wrapped?

kristenmichele22, I think that a fresh, lighter mortar would definitely make the wall more attractive and easier to work with. It looks like there is room for new mortar with minimal chiseling out of the existing stuff. It sounds like a lot of work, though and I am not sure what your budget is for this project.

I think the challenge is that the stone have a mix of warm (orange AND pink) and cooler grey tones in them. I would try BM Revere Pewter, we chose it for our bathroom because the flooring has pink-purple undertones we wanted to downplay.

I would also suggest a gray, on the warm side, but lighter than what you're showing. The heater looks really ugly, but presumably it's needed for heat, so maybe you could update to something cuter. The thick hearth is to keep the house from catching fire when the stove is running. :)

If you really hate the wall, you could always paint it or resurface with stone you prefer. But I'd start by trying several shades of warm gray or medium tan/taupe, and then see whether you warm to it with time. Also the new heater!!

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here are some paints...

You can paint the stone, you can cover it with stucco. You can get a fireplace screen for the stove. There are often lovely, intricate older one in antique/vintage stores. You just have to hunt.

Lightening the grout and replacing the stove would help immensely.

Does the house have central heating? If it does I would remove the wood stove and have the stone plastered over. That black grout is just awful.

There are grout painting products that come in a range of styles. Start there with a mortar that will match the taupe stones so that you warm up the colors in the mortar - it is the giraffe effect that is driving you mad. If that isn't enough you can water down some paint that matches one of the middle toned stones and work over the darkest stones. What colors are you using for accent in your home and I'll help you find a great paint color.

The hearth "thickness" is built to keep others from walking into the fire / stove . .it is fine. I do think a real gas fireplace would help this work for you since you may already have gas to the location, be sure what you might need to do to meet code (consult a plumber before you invest in any new things to get the lowdown). Here's a visual that is a bit more modern - that would be a good combination here for you.

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apple_pie_order

I'm fully aware that the wrapping paper is a fire hazard, which is why it isn't being used! Thanks for your concern!

Wow! Thank you ALL so much for your time and advise! You have no idea how much better I feel! Just knowing that this does have the potential to look nice!

Emmarene....

We actually have gas heat! Either way, that wood stove is def going!!! I agree 100% about the gout being awful! To top off the ugliness, the walls were painted lime green!!!!

The wood stove could provide back up heating should you have a power failure. I like the ideas mentioned above for changing the grout color and white washing the stone. It might be a bit labor intensive to try that first but could prove to be worth while. However the lime green would have to go....quickly.

Every home I've purchased had bad stone or brink around the fire place. In two cases we ripped it out and replaced it. Hard, dirty, expensive. In this home, we found a good plaster company and plastered over it. It looks great and wasn't expensive and is holding up very well. Then you have a clean pallet to work with.

libradesigneye

Thank you so much for your help! Every home I've lived in, was always a rental, so I never had to worry about paint colors ie: warm tones, cool tones, neutrals, accents, etc. It's all very confusing for me! I thought that I was pretty good in this department. However, since purchasing my own home, it's the absolute opposite! I can not commit to a color for this living room! Nothing is popping out at me from the stone, because it's just so busy! I've honey spent hours staring at this darn wall and no single color pops out at me! The only thing that pops out at me, is the entire thing as a whole!

So, since I couldn't choose a color for the family room ( well, I've painted this room about 6 different times ( after trying 15 swatches on the wall) all to no avail! I just can't find the perfect color! So, after a few mini meltdowns and lots of money wasted on undesirable paint colors, I decided to take a break from this room and focus on my Kitchen. Although, this room continues to tante me on a daily basis! ( If this rock wall had a face and could speak, I feel like it would be sticking it's toung out at me, saying "nanny nanny poo poo")

So back to the kitchen....I decided to go with Glidden Canadian Sky Blue. I know, cringe cringe w the Glidden, but I was surprisingly very pleased! Then again, after all the debacle w the living room, I prob would of been happy with a fluorescent green kitchen! Anyways, the kitchen and living room are open, so I bought blue curtains for the living room to tie in w blue in kitchen. My couches are a taupe color. Next, I'm thinking I should purchase some throw pillows that will have the blue and taupe in them. So, to answer you're simple question about accent colors; blue and taupe I guess. Do I have that right so far? I really don't have a clue what I'm doing here obviously!!! Its just not as easy as it seems! I guess I just don't have that flair for design! Plus, I think the rock wall really messed me up here! I would so love and appreciate any advice on interior color choices for that room. As far as the wall goes, I'm going to start small and go bigger if I have to. With that being said, I'm going to start w cleaning the rocks and mortar with muriatic acid, then start painting the mortar a much lighter color. The wood stove is 100% gone! I'd like to replace it with a nice gas fireplace, since I have gas as my heating source. They do make some really nice ones, that have mantles and they look like the real thing! If at that point I still can not warm up to the rocks, I'm going to do away w them completely! Since I am on a budget, I'm wondering if I could just sheet rock over the existing rocks, rather than plastering. Also, do you think a rock wall like this in a home would increase its value or decrease? I def don't see that thing increasing any value. But, they are real stones. So, maybe putting sheet rock over would be a better idea? I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Here are some pics.....

Color in kitchen and taupe accent color

After seeing the one picture with the rock painted white, that is what I would do and then put the new gas fireplace in front. Not sure about the round rocky hearth you have under the stove....can it be squared off, added to or taken out completely?

I think this rock looks very massive and dark. May you want to completely remove the stone and put a new one? As our flexible stone veneer. I think this color will give your room more light and freshness.

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Blue and taupe are great choices here. There is a stone that heads towards taupe - it is the most gray brown one. Some of the other stones are golden in tone. If you have any natural basketry, bring it into the room and place it at the hearth - see if it doesn't pick up on the warmer stone tones. Yes, right now it looks bad because of the dark gray grout in the warm stone tones. Paint the grout first - use a midtone grout paint choice that is lighter than the darkest stones and darker than the lighter stones . , and then lets see where you are. Don't be afraid to mix grout stains - I did that to get a better color and it worked like a charm. The traditional white mantel that you posted isn't bad but yes, the stone, if handled correctly does lend more expense as real stone and also adds some cottage character - people with new tract houses would die for having a real stone feature. If the grout treatment isn't enough, we'll work through a wash until you are really pleased. Let me look at the glidden blue sky and your post on my good color monitor when I'm not on my engineering computer and I'll send you some soft neutrals to test on the wall next to the stones. It is your first home - congratulations. Trust that it will be wonderful when you bring it all together.

Half the problem is defining the problem, and you are well on your way. Horrid grout, odd mix of stone.

Dark grout is an unfortunate invention of the benighted 1970s, and it regrettably persists. It was thought to look oldie-timie. True antique mortar has a warm creamy color to it, but it was displaced by cold gray portland cement. And then came black mortar.

Another problem with the stone is that it is laid higgldy-piggledy, nothing at all the way a true weight-bearing wall is laid, a subconscious distraction. It shows especially at the edges where there are stones squeezed in vertically to fill funny spaces.

If your house is not a log interior, I'd recommend either demolishing or sheet-rocking over the whole thing. Sheet-rocking would give you a slight bump forward, which could be a good foil for the kind of fireplace you envision. In that scenario, you may want to build it forward more than necessary, a good 12+ inches to get that traditional chimney breast look.

If you attempt a chimney breast, note that they just forward *floor to ceiling* no matter how high, in an unbroken line from floor to ceiling. No changes in width as they ascend. This will sound weird, but if you go to google images and type in "chimney breast" you will see a variety of illustrations ranging from crisp modern to luscious old styles.

Whatever your conversion, get the fire department's input on meeting code, both in terms of fire and gas fumes for your own safety.

Your taupe and blue color scheme sounds lovely. Taupe walls could get you through until you finalize your decision regarding the chimney. The first year (or two) of owning a home always feels like hemorrhaging money, so anything that makes a holding pattern tolerable helps!

Congratulations on the new home and I hope you enjoy a happy new year in it!

You will never be happy with the colors of the stones, and re-doing the grout is a fussy tedious job. I'd paint the whole thing the same color as your walls. Quick and inexpensive. If you have the time/money/strength later you can drywall/plaster over it, or remove the rocks. But my guess is that after you paint over it you'll be fine with it. You'll have a nice texture but no color problems.

acm's picture above of "swallow drive" is the best example, or these ones. Here are 2 of blue plus neutral. Very nice, and you'll never get this great look with those weird stone colors in the room.

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That doesn't look like a wood burning stove to me; more like a heating appliance. In any case it can be painted with head resistant paint. I once painted an old woodstove white and it made a huge difference. The paint doesn't come in a lot of colours but maybe you can find one you like and paint the stones in a similar colour so the whole wall reads as one. It's a cheap fix that will, at the very least, let you know if you can live it.

Check out the product / link at the last postings here - made for brick but will yield a better result on stone than just paint . . [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1980s-large-red-brick-fireplace-ideas-to-update-dsvw-vd~423352[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1980s-large-red-brick-fireplace-ideas-to-update-dsvw-vd~423352)

http://www.brick-anew.com/

If the stones have to stay I would paint the grout a warm light stone colour or get a professional to chisel out replace the grout with a lighter colour. Other options (if stove not needed) are to remove stove and cover the stones with painted wood paneling, or cover with plaster board and make it disappear. You could also paint the entire wall with masonry paint (pick your colour, there are lots available).

What you need to do is paint the mortar between the rocks a neutral color such as SW Rice Grain. Then the grout will not be so dominant. That is the problem here. Changing the walls will not change that element. Mary Anne Smiley, Mary Anne Smiley Interiors, Dallas, Texas.

@Mary Anne Smiley Interiors Post is two years old. I think they figured something out.

Houzz just sent it to us!

And maybe other people have the same problem....