Hi, I just bought my first house (1970's ranch) in central NJ. The living room has a very unattractive corner fireplace. We are installing hardwood floors and I want to remove the unsightly tile/slate in front to the hearth, but apparently our hearth is not to wide enough (it is only 12 inches, hearth must be 18 inches. Do you have any suggestions of what I should do?

Should I hire someone to extend the hearth...but then will it stick too far out when you enter the room?

side note: we are refinishing the existing floors and I would like to take out that weird shelf/wall