obeach, why don't you put your picture/question on a separate discussion thread? It is so very different (but interesting!) from deepistol's that it's hard to comment to you as well on this thread.

Why not just leave it? Fill with artwork maybe a plant and I have to say I love the idea of metal with studs....

tying in the mantle to shelving or continuing the lines on the return will help aesthetically. Also, tapering the framing above the mantel (about 7 degrees) is a simple and often pleasing way to lend a sense of mass. While I make a living through stone work more is not always better. Wendy Proctors recommendations of experimenting with painting are are excellent idea to fine tune the environment to your mutual tastes. Even though I have built a number of fireplace to accommodate the tv, I would discourage it. To me the Fireplace represents our connection to the oldest of the arts and trades. To marry it with the most modern does not seem appropriate. I have been hired to remove the tv for people who feel the same way or noticed their neck getting soar from the uncomfortable angle. it ends up being expensive because I need to match stone and mortar which can be very difficult to do seamlessly. If your area is extremely confined and you are passionate about both tv and fire I recommend the following. above the mantle should be a wood trim to "discretely" house the tv in a cabinet or use a see through mirror if you don't need articulation for the hieght.

mirrors to fit either side of the fireplace; glass shelves down over the mirror; downlighters recessed above. you could stick some art on the glass shelves or books either would look good; especially leather bound (red?). Coving around the top of walls - deep: decent marble fireplace and large painting over pref. abstract or modernist to give a modern touch. Voila.

The existing fireplace with builder grade tile and surround is asking to be updated. If you want to make your fireplace a focal point you are going to need to spend some money to do it right.

Adding a TV over the fireplace works our very well contrary to what some of the designers have said in the post. In the six years we have been adding TV's to our stone installation, we have had no heat issues. The adjustable TV brackets allow you to adjust your TV to a comfortable viewing level. We also typically suggest no mantel because it pushes the TV higher up on the fireplace.

Remove the tile and wood surround. Add your choice of stone style and stone color and cover the front of the fireplace and the returns. A new stone hearth would replace the existing hearth. You can have the stone installed with or with out a mortar joint.

The base cabinets can be painted and definitely add bookcases on top of the base units.

This plan will create a stunning focal point that will make your home stand out. You will also find that you use your fireplace al the time. Any questions about adding a TV to your fireplace or questions about stone, chef out our web site.

Interesting ideas going on here; I am English and the design ideas are very different. I see you have a print of paris on the wall and traditional chairs which suggests that's what makes you feel comfortable. You have a large space which asks for a large solution. Don't get dotty! (ie lots of small things) the painting above the fireplace - which has to be changed .... should be really striking; perhaps get the old man to create a studded canvas? Have fun. x

whatever you do don't use stone - this is a classic room not a cottage in the country...

I really appreciate all your wonderful suggestions. What is a studded canvas?

Paint the fireplace wall top to bottom different than either side. New tile or metal, whichever you choose around the fireplace opening. Closed door cabinets on both sides, in which one will house the TV. The cabinets would make the wall areas appear the same.

The first thing that strikes me is the disparity between the low side cabinets and the fireplace wall going up to the ceiling. I would put a tall piece of artwork on both sides with a light above it. I would also stain the countertops in a stain close to your hardwood floor to keep that area of the room from looking too vanilla. The fireplace wall needs to stand out. I would add something like hardwood slats on a diagonal all the way to the ceiling. The wood adds a touch of rustic that make be a compromise for your hubby.

Studded Canvas.. Just get a large plain canvas from an Art supplier and some studs/upholstry bits and pieces; beer tops;wine tops;metal buttons; metal car pieces/nuts and bolts; anything metallic - attach with a glue gun and go for it! Make sure the canvas is nearly as large as your chimney piece - use that as a frame. Alternatively have a go with wide stripes/blocks of emulsion in colours that tie in with your room to create your own abstract painting.
The mirror glass filling the alcoves either side of your chimney piece will give an illusion that there is another room beyond and the fireplace will look as though it's in the middle of this room - really effective at bouncing light around. Obviously my suggestion of a marble fireplace was the ideal; but I think that as your fireplace i s such a focal point - you don't want to be putting 'heavy' surrounds in. Stick to a traditional 19th century style. Do you have good reclamation yards at all in the states?
A 'cheap' and very effective option of dealing with the fireplace is to buy some mouldings from the diy store and attach them to what you have to build the surround up - just look at some contemporary photos and copy them; then paint the lot. Remove the doors on your bottom cupboards and put some flat mdf doors on with a 'push touch open and shut' and paint the same colour as the fire surround. You could always remove them completely and put modern upright upholstered cream/grey linen chairs either side and in front of the mirrored recess to create a cosy reading space/library effect? You have a lovely room - keep the walls white and splash some colour with your painting and perhaps a large rug. Have fun!

I agree with everyone who has suggested having the TV on top of the fire place and white shelving on either side with a dark colour behind the shelving. A dark patterned wall paper behind the shelving could look great.

Get rid of the fire place and put the TV in it's place at the height you prefer.

Seems like builders always put the cheapest possible fireplaces in houses, usually out of scale and only vaguely resembling the original.
Here, I'd stack flagstone or brick up to the ceiling. After you get inspected, get rid of the glass. Raise the hearth with brick or cut stone. do away with cabinets, replace heavy-scaled bookshelves with proper lighting.
Put the flat-screen in another room.
Also, the carpet isn't helping any. What's underneath it? The room would look bigger and better (and cleaner) with a hard floor of wood (NOT pergo!) or a nice slate or tile. You can hang a painting above the fireplace, but it will need strong colors or bulking to compete with stone, so the one that's there can go.

You have the space for book shelves, so, why not use the space. The height would add wonders. Your stone might be improved with a more powerful mantle. Thicker more decorative. For the space, again, you can afford it. Good luck! Oh and - subway tiles??? If you wish to avoid blah... do something bold and different... metal panel sound very interesting rivets? could become dated.

Build bookcases with molding on both sides of fireplace, then take picture out and hang tv above fireplace. Use marble or stone on the fireplace, it's more expensive but it is a small area.

I mean italian stone, not country cottage stone.

You should put the tv were the fire place is

How about subway metal tiles? It would update your look and doesn't cost much to do....

Carry the bookshelves on either side all the way to the ceiling. Beef up the wood around the fireplace and the mantel.

Howdy......................Have you reached any conclusions? I'm just checking back in to see how you're doing.

Tall bookcases on either side with paneling to complete the look above the mantle. You want to beef up the look rather than diminish it. Also tiling around the fireplace and a hearth. Have fun!

Hi mommabear12..............bingo!!...............the proverbial nail on the head!!!

Home depot has floating shelves, beautiful white ones,they are thick and match your cupboards, then place beautiful books and nick nacs...I wish I had your problem that fire place looks great, it just needs shelves ...I would put several on both sides, It will look amazing and cheap..leaving more money for the fireplace....just sayin'

By the way... paint the gold in the fireplace, with barbeque black sray paint and then add some white marble (like) tile on the fireplace, your place look great! More cheap ideas but very effective!

Less clutter on the mantel and bring down the mirror..you can do it! and/or put the TV up over the fire place on the wall!

Last thought those shelves... buy the same size for each side, and have them cut an angle on one side so they will fit and look symetrical...good luck with what ever you do!

how about something like this.....though I would mount the tv above the mantle. you've got a great spot with lots of options!

Install a pair built-in shelving/ book case all the way to ceiling. Install pull out swivel tray so TV can be adjusted for viewing. also add cabinet doors to hide TV when not in use. Beef up the mantle and replace tile with more natural looking stone. Sorry, but your hubby loses out on the metal/rivets look. Maybe you can incorporate that in accessories...

Hi All: Thanks for all your opinions. What a great website to allow us (esthetically driven folks) to enjoy sharing our ideas. So, I am going to add a pic here of my kitchen, which is at the front of my house. When you walk in my front door you see my kitchen, then you look further on to the dining table and then the living room with the FIREPLACE wall. I hope this helps with perspective. I have just reno'd my kitchen and I love it. As I get older I have a greater appreciation for the "classic". I want design that will stand the test of time. I love to trade out accessories on a seasonal basis, but I want the bones of my house to be classic. I also want my house to have an authenticness, nothing that comes across as faux (that's why I stick to twigs, branches, real plants, not silk). I live in Calgary, AB. My home is only 13 years old so it doesn't have built-in character. That's why I want to create some on the fireplace wall. It would be wonderful to have a real brick/stone fireplace but that is not the case. So, after all these comments and looking at more houzz photos, I must say that my desire is leaning toward doing the built-in book shelves with a wainscotting/moulding on the centre part of the fireplace. Beefing up the wood surrounding the fireplace. And I am adding a photo of a fireplace with a black surround, as well as a couple others, one with white tile, one with white/grey pattern. I like the idea of a dark colour stone around the fireplace as it makes it "pop". I found a photo of a TV built into the bookshelf which hides it a bit better. I love old books and often peruse thrift shops and garage sales looking for the oldest books I can find. So, the bookshelves, with old books displayed, I think will add nice character and warmth. So, that is the lean for now.

https://www.houzz.com/photos/21st-century-bungalow-contemporary-living-room-new-york-phvw-vp~413007

I like your lean...

Great post, O.P.! How about the metal panels with arts and crafts style stove ceramic tile inserts. Tons of character, and you get a definite style to jump off on for the rest of the wall. We have the same fireplace layout but without built-ins yet. The bathroom is on the other side of the fireplace wall. Like most 1940's home, it is too small for a vanity. We "stole" 21" from the 50" wide nook on the far side of the fire place and built a new wall to divide LR. from the bath. We will have room for shallow shelves in the living room and a full size vanity in the bathroom. The shallow shelves will also accommodate the flat screen TV.

If you don't want to do anything permanent now while you think about your design, you can get a very large but inexpensive mirror (Ikea, Bed, Bath and Beyond or find a salvaged one) and paint it with a rusty color and add some rivets and lean it up on the mantle over the fireplace. This would give you the opportunity to see if you both really like the idea of rusty metal and rivets without a major expense. If you don't want the TV to stand out as much, you could paint the cabinets very dark and put a few matching floating shelves on the sides with just a few objects on them. You could paint the walls a contrasting color. This project could be done in a day or just a few cans of paint, a few pieces of wood for floating shelves and one mirror.

yes, Patrice, nice idea about a temporary solution for the time being. I get excited at the prospects of decorating.!!!

We did what ReMax suggested. Our interior designer, Bellwether, orchestrated the concept. Chardonnay ledgestone floor to ceiling, stone tile hearth, dark stained 12" mantel - you lose 3" to the stone depth so it ends up 9" wide which blocks heat up to tv, and placed 2 dark bookcases on each side which hold electronics. We did the electrical before stone was put up, lowered the mantel for tv viewing height (49" from floor to top of mantel), (tv is 56" from floor to bottom of tv & 12" space on each side of tv). The overall effect is amazing.

Ok. Tv on wall midway on right with a full bookcase and in front of the tv a decorative panel to be mirrored the other side with a drinks cabinet on the right hand one. Each shelf has a timber trim at rear spaced 1/2 inch forward with led soft lights in( so the light shines up with books then I front, it will look amazing all wood painted in a grey tone with crystal knobs on base units. Shelves need a good thickness. Lights linked in to main room switch.
In the base left side DVD Internet hub, mac tv etc...
Fire place columns need building out more with a heavier top.

Very nice idea above! I found a pic on Houzz called Cole Valley - complete house remodel. Set up just like your fp wall and I think really nice. I don't know how,to attach it here.

Unfortunately not helping you...but what paint color is that?? I love it! And what about the trim?

Deepistol- I just real your comment showing your kitchen. I think we have very similar taste and I was actually thinking you should do exactly why you said. Ha. :) You can also put a nice sunburst mirror on top of the fireplace instead. Especially if it faces a window.

Love sunburst mirrors!

Benjamin Moore Shaker Beige. Took forever to decide on this particular "beige". Some too pink or peach or grey. This one is perfect to my eye. I live in Calgary, AB so I need a colour with some warmth to it. Trim is Simply White, BM. Thanks for the comment.

I have something similar in my house and I added a very large mirror above the fireplace and love it...opens up the whole room that happens to be small.

Tell me about it! Tried like 10 before we decided on one in our previous house! Ended up a little too gray. Ill definitely try this one- thanks!

Hi! I saw your post about Saman stain, cocoa being the best to paint over wood. I NEED to redo my builders orange oak cabinets and railings throughout. Why did you choose this product? You have found the oil base is better than water base? Additionally, do you have any recommendations for prep and procedure? Thanks... it would help a ton to get some expertise!
SS sari underscore clint aaaatttt yyyyaaahoooo dot comeeeeee

Hi. The Saman stain is called a hybrid formula. You can wash the brush in warm water. My neighbour had used it on her oak stair railing. So I just followed suit. It stains and varnishes all at once.

There are quite a few colours. Cocoa or coffee, teak...Just gotta pick the one you like.

You Must make sure it is well stirred or the colour stays more at the bottom. So that is important if it has been sitting around too long.

I just used a fine grit sanding paper to rough up the surface a bit and get oils/dirt off. You do not have to sand off all the original varnish. It goes right over it. The oils/dirt are the important thing to get off.

Then you just brush it on, going with the grain when possible. You put on as many coats as you want to reach the desired effect. I think I did 4 coats on my railing. I have done bar stools, picture frames, kitchen tables (though scratching can occur on the top if you slide dishes across. But I got my table second hand for $100 so this was an affordable way to spruce it up.) Coffee tables, benches...

The only thing the Saman did not work well on for me was my kitchen counter edges. When I moved into my house it had hot pink counters with a yellow oak wood edge. Hideous. But it wasn't in the budget to change them the first couple years. So I used Saman on the oak edge. It was ok but scratched up much more easily I think, because of the greasiness of the edges. I did not do a good enough job to sand off all the greasiness. So, keep that in mind when you are deciding what to stain. Everything else had held up wonderfully. If you are nervous just find an old piece of oak furniture at a garage sale and give it a test drive. It is only about $15 for a can of the Saman. It really is a brilliant product in my opinion.

D

Wow, thanks so much for the insight and for your time. It is very much appreciated. Can't wait to give it a try!

SS