This fireplace is in a 1960-built California ranch house. It's a very common design, whereby the fireplace essentially provided a 'wall' by dividing the living and dining room. The fireplace is 8' long, 3' thick and has a fireplace on both sides. We would love to update it, but I am wondering if it is even possible to re-build it so the fireplace opening is double-wide, leaving only a foot or so on either edge. Certainly applying an external veneer, ie ledgestone or polished travertine, is in the works, and we also want to not just mount the TV above the opening, but to have a shallow cove in which the TV would be embedded and flush with the surface. The reason I post on here is to get any other ideas, since I see other pictures and people put in built-ins or adjacent shelving or other architectural design elements to make their monolithical fireplace more than just a huge wall of stone. Any ideas or pictures of interesting modifications that others have undertaken are welcome!