That is a LOT of brick! Can you take out the brick on either side of the fireplace and leave a more traditional size ? Sheetrock or shelving on either side? Sounds kind of expensive to my inexperienced self.

The brick is great. The gray is not. Work with the brick.

We have gutted the entire room. Ripped out the old carpet...starting from new. The grey floor is just the concrete. We plan on adding a subfloor and laminate. This was the entire space before. We plan on getting all new furniture...paint the walls...the whole gamot.
The room is about 24x25ft. A tv watching space and a games space.

schmear the brick then add built ins around it. Look at blog, "Life as a rambling redhead"....Beautiful brick fireplaces!!

This is what I've done so far and the second picture is seeing what the new flooring will look like against the black brick. I haven't stained the mantle and side pieces yet..but I will. I'll also paint the front of the hearth black and get some tile to lay on top.

Question is....what do I do with the rest of the brick wall? shiplap over and paint?

I like what you have done so far. If you need storage, I would consider placing a hearth to ceiling bookcase on the left (larger) side of the fireplace against the left wall, that will cover some of the brick and provide storage. I would buy it or make it out of the same wood you used on the side pieces of the mantle and stain it the same. I would be tempted to whitewash the rest of the brick unless you want to do it all as you have already painted. Then add rustic black sconces to replace the current ones and stagger some shelves on either side using the mantle top wood.

If you are going with that floor i would paint the brick white frame the fireplace with white wood and then mount a chunky white wood mantel at the level of the sconces that’s dies into the mantel surround. Add two chunky (NOT ornate) Corbels under the mantel shelf where the sconces are. Paint the inside of the the wood holders black. will look fantastic. Can style the mantel with a few small items I.e. small green boxwood topiary plant On left side and then maybe two pictures just slightly different in size leaning on the right side of mantel it will look fantastic- bright cheery and modern

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I have a similar style of fireplace. We painted ours white and put a huge piece of driftwood up as the mantle piece as a temporary look. After that we plan on putting a 100 ft electric fireplace on top of the brick and filling it in with sheetrock around it and 3d tile on top. We wanted to modernize ours as much as possible. One idea for you is to get wood panels and put on top of it to make it more rustic with a modern origami sculpture of a head of a animal.