Paint the stone black.

New sconces are in order. Te since is $52.00. Bang for the buck!

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Just spotted the white aluminum door to the right. It’s spoiling everything. Any chance you could find out where previous owner bought it? A match would be so perfect!

Get a wire bristled brush and scrub all the stones and the grout to see if you can remove the paint and the soot from the stone as well.

If you cannot remove the paint from the grout, perhaps you could repaint the grout gray.

Would certainly want to avoid painting the stone if at all possible; but, if you do decide to paint it, consider a medium to dark gray rather than a black.

Would paint both doors the same color.

If you replace the sconces, choose larger ones -- larger metal base against the wall and larger lamp shade. Do make sure you can use the 6000 lumens bulbs with a base compatible with older lamps so the bulbs will be less expensive to replace. Creating the look of panels above the fireplace and around the sconces is also worth considering.

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The black brick looks great, do you think it’ll work on stone?

Painted stone so you can see some options.

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I love this, do you think I can do white stone with cream walls and white moldings?

Also, do I use special paint? Has anyone done this?

I would use a good primer (ask the guy at a good paint store) and then a masonry paint.

We used masonry paint and painted our rock stone FP. Hubby was skeptical at first but now he‘s so glad we did it. I researched online and used a stone primer and then one coat of masonry paint. We probably should have put a 2nd coat. Lol. Our FP was converted to gas and so far no issues with peeling or staining. We used brushes to really get into all the crevices and got it done in a day. Good luck on your project!

I think the stones are really pretty as is! Is the mortar really painted or did they choose a paint colord to match? I would look to see if a different paint color would work better.

Yes, the paint, carpet and mortar are all so close in hue is hard to figure out what’s what. Maybe once we get the floors and the walls done it’ll look better. Thanks for the positivity!

On a tiny budget in a new house, I’d first try one of the “green” paint strippers and a wire brush. The stone looks appropriate to the age and visible details of your home (door, mantle). Painting it may start you down the path of needing to change more than you bargained for to keep it from becoming a disjointed element.

Just weighing in to suggest waiting on painting the natural stone fireplace until other things are in place. Are you planning to paint the walls? Do you have beautiful art you can put above the mantel.. Do consider removing or changing those bathroom-style sconces. I'm surprised no one mentioned those. Something more rustic/industrial would look much better.

Deal with other design elements in the room before you change out a natural stone fireplace. If you go for a rustic look for the room, the river stone fireplace would be an asset. In the meantime, get a bunch of logs for the fireplace and in a basket and add other rustic/industrial fireplace accessories. Then see if the problem recedes.

I like painted brick but not painted stone, I am not sure why but the stones always look fake when painted. I would clean the stone really well and repaint the mortar gray and yes you need new sconces but without having any idea of your style I have no idea of what to change them to. BTW I dislike sconces period.

It's not a bad fireplace. I do like the rustic mantle. Am not as big a fan of painted stone as I am of painted brick but since the mortar has already been painted I might suggest you go ahead and paint the stone. JudyGdesigns suggest black. I think that might be a good choice. If there were any way you can add some rustic wood brackets below the mantle I would do that. The mantel doesn't look quite substantial enough and brackets might help that. New sconces for sure as other have suggested. Artwork and accessories would certainly help. It does look like the flooring carpet. That's seems odd in conjunction with the fireplace. Also, not sure what material your hearth is or if it is just a mat. Installing a stone hearth to match or compliment the stone of the fireplace would be ideal for me but that may not be possible. Good luck!

Paint the grout grey to minimize the contrast and paint the mantel black to tie in with the hearth.

I rather like the fireplace, especially the stones. I like the ideas to try to vigorously clean the stone and the grout.

I would change out the sconces.

Additionally I don't think it helps having one door painted white and one door painted burgundy. Would you consider painting them a consistent color?

Also, I think it would help to have the trim painted white instead of the same color as the wall. Right now it just all blends.