If you decide you must paint.....

I agree, clean up the brick and leave. A shame to put a TV over the FP. Can you arrange the room so TV is on a wall? If you need help with an arrangement take photos of entire room and post. How is the room being used? Is this your primary room for TV, visiting and relaxing?

I agree almost a sin to put over fp. I would do to a side wall & couch across from it. 2 chairs.

Leave the hearth stones unpainted for sure - two reasons - one, they are beautiful, and two, unpainted they are more attractive. When you envision building in shelves on either side under the windows, do you envision them being natural wood, stained like your window trim or do you envision them being painted? The natural stained mantel makes me think you might stick with natural stain for those built ins. Then, consider that they will be dark and the natural brick will flow. If you see the new stuff painted, then painting the brick makes sense. I would suggest a mid tone drabware / tan neutral - perhaps from historic colors. Ben Moore has a color gallery online where you can sort for their historic colors - and see them against other colors. If you are not sure what to do yet with the casework, wait - scrubbing bubbles are supposed to work great on brick - try that and also consider using high heat matt black spray paint on the brass around the glass instead of discarding it for now - it may help insulate your room from a chimney with no flue.

Thanks for everyone's feedback. This is the main family room of my grandma's house which is now up for rent and soon to be for sale w/in a couple years. I'm trying to help my parents out by fixing it up to attract better tenants as the last one cause several thousands $$ of damage. Also to increase value of house.

For the built-in's I was planning on painting them white to match the side walls.

I like the idea of not moving the mirror as its just massive and would be a lot of work.

Painting the screen/doors black is also a good idea. I think there is a flue so the room should stay insullated ok if we took it out. I was thinking it would look cleaner and more simple w/o it. We'll see.

I think everyone convinced me not to paint the FP and just clean it up.

Thanks for everyone's quick response. Will work on the cleanup tomorrow.

Thank you.

Ron

As someone who has owned a white painted fireplace, I don't recommend it. It looked good right after I cleaned it but it didn't stay clean for long - especially if you are burning actual wood in it. Once you paint it you can't go back!

I had a house with the exact same fireplace arrangement but the bookcases were already built and in place. The mantel and the tops of the bookcases were all one consecutive piece. I loved that because I was able to decorate the mantel better. The house was a Tudor style but the fireplace was more Craftsman style. So I had a carpenter reface the fireplace for me and I replaced the doors on the bookcases with leaded glass. You may not want to go to all that trouble for a rental, but it can illustrate something you might want to do in the future.

I just realized this picture was taken at approximately the same angle so you can really get a good idea what it might look like. I even have the mirror above the fireplace. Excuse all the "stuff". I moved from a much larger home and I had a lot of things to find a home for. And, I've learned a lot by being on Houzz about editing down some accessories.

One other thing: I put some black granite tile on the hearth and on the face of the fireplace. It wasn't a big deal but it really added a lot, I think.

The face of the fireplace should be inspected by a mason. I think it needs maintenance. It looks like your Gran had a nice house.