I would clean it and simplify everything around it. Paint the walls, I think, as I can not really see them, in a nice muted earthy color that will settle the quartz down. Hang pictures with natural white museum mats to bring the light repitition of t the quartz to another part of the room. Furnish with comfy deep "sink-into-me" furniture. In a solid soft nubby texture. Love the beams hate the lamps and fireplace accessories. Give this traditional a simple contemporary edge keeping the traditional perhaps "lodge" aspects of stone and beams. Do you have more pictures? What is the flooring?

You are correct in your assessment--it is a "large ugly fireplace" --in fact it is a ROOM KILLER. You can cover it with a nice quality brick, stone, or tiles.
PyramidDG.com

I would remove the glass enclosure and the gold tools and replace them with rustic iron tools and a removable iron fireplace screen in keeping with the rough stone

Wow, that puppy is huge! I guess what you do with it will depend on your budget. The least expensive option would be to paint the whole thing an off-white. If your budget is as big as the fireplace, perhaps you could have someone come in to remove the rock and install a covering of your choice.

Depending on your style, you could drywall over it and just put up a simple wraparound mantle to match the ceiling beams. That would look sleek and moder.

I can understand the point of view, but I really believe you can make a very nice room WITH this fireplace. We just have to know how to turn this negative into a positive. Do you have other pictures of the room? How it opens up to i.e. the dining room, kitchen, or yard. Your furnishings and what you can afford to change or add in regards to furniture as needed. Can you get paint chip(s) from Ben Moore that most closely match the overall color(s) of the stone?

I'd paint the ceiling beams the ceiling color, then paint the walls the grout color of the stone. That way, the stone may "blend in" with the wall and tone down the massive size...a little bit. :) New hardware and screen for the FP, and a good cleaning for the stone and it will look "fresh"!

Don't despair. There's hope for this behemoth. But you're going to have to lighten up the room and get rid of that dark paneling. Here's some inspiration:

I think I would lighten up the room, but I would still match the stone and or grout and go a shade deeper to stage the fireplace and give it interesting definition. And then the somewhat deeper walls will "caress" the furnishings placed within. Creating a light, yet cozy experience. Remove wall paneling, instead of painting the paneling. You do not want competing pattern: the stone and the paneling, in this case.

Agree looks better

I will give some background on the house we just bought it and it is stuck in the 70's. I would love to have suggestions a lot of things. But here are some pics.

As far as budget we are maxed out just buying the house. But we would like to rent it. So I know I am coming in and painting all the paneling. Painting the kitchen cabinets. Can not do anything right now about the floors. I would just love some quick fix ideas. I did think about painting the fireplace but was unsure if it would make it look bigger and uglier

I forgot to say we have not moved in yet so the pics are showing what it looks like without touching a thing. It is a beautiful piece of lake from property that is why we bought it. So we know we eventually would like to knock out a lot of walls and the bathrooms....yikes lots of work! Did I say lots of paneling!

Don't paint the fireplace. Paint the brass, not the stone. Paint the paneling if you can't remove it.

This could actually be a pretty great house. It's got a mid mod feel, and that wall of windows is wonderful. I would say the key here is simplify, simplify, simplify. Out with the froufrou valances, out with the clock on the kitchen soffit, out with the little half-moon rugs.

Does the furniture stay? Some of it's awesome (the breakfront), some is okay (the sofa), and some doesn't belong (the table lamps and the tall dining chairs). You might replace those chairs with a simple bench.

Consider replacing all the lighting. None of it fits the house. Ikea has some decent pendant lighting with more than decent prices. Hope this helps.

I'm confused. Are you going to live in it, or rent it out? Because my answers are different in either case.

We will eventually live in it. But we want to sell out home first. So in the mean time we would like to rent it. So just some painting will have to do for right now.

Lake view with pool!

I, too, have a great lake house that had paneling - but just in the bedrooms. Here are a couple of practical things to consider.. Painting paneling is difficult no matter how you do it. If it's expensive paneling, the paint soaks in and requires several coats. If it's the cheap stuff, the glossy surface makes the paint peel easily. Even if you have a beautiful paint job, when all is said and done - it's still paneling. So - my recommendation would be to have the paneling replaced with drywall as soon as you can gather the money. I would make it your first priority before doing any other upgrades because no mater what else you do, you'll still have paneling. Oh, and the fireplace - I think it will look a lot better when the room is lightened up and the accessories around the fireplace are updated.

Well, I usually advise to work with what you've got, and I think Mary has a point, but my boyfriend and I had a 70's home with one of these up to the very high ceilingl

The thing is, they are those fake rocks, or boulders, and they are just ugly.

Ours had been painted white, and it looked like hell! I couldn't stand it one Sunday, and he got a crowbar, and ripped it off, but it took some muscle.. We got a contractor to put in a hearth, and some travertine, and a great mantel, and it completely changed the look of the room. The light reflection off the marble made our new furniture look better, it brightened up the room incredibly, because all that texture in those rocks,soak up a lot of light. As a rental, leave it, but when you move in I'd redo it.

The extra information and photos are helpful. It's a fabulous property that needs a huge amount of work, but has the potential to be a real showplace.

To prepare for rental, I would do the least amount possible and keep in mind that tenants will not be as careful as you. The kitchen cabinets don't look too bad, painting them is a tedious job, and I'm guessing you will eventually gut the kitchen anyway. So skip the kitchen and concentrate on brightening the walls. Paint the paneling if you can. If you can't, perhaps you could rip it off and drywall in the main part of the house. (One less thing to do when you do move in.)

Clean the fireplace stone, paint the brass, and then keep the rest simple. Simple furnishings, no window coverings if you don't need them, keep everything light and minimal and let the view speak for itself. After all, it's what sold the house to you. ;-)

Disclaimer: Don't judge my decorating as I have not obtained what I want for the mantle yet.
With that being said, we painted our massive, 20ft tall, 70's style fire place a semi-gloss white. As you can see, the beams received the same treatment. Want to know what's even more fun? The ceiling got a contrast of soft grey to make the beams stand out more. (The walls are painted grey too, but I don't have a recent pic to show the color. Also, the mantle pic is a little dingy as we hadn't repainted it yet.)

^ray_d_8 - loooove your flooring!

This looks pretty fantastic! way to go.

looks great!

It does look nice. So I am thinking of painting it also. But I do want to wait until I paint the walls .