Tile depends on your style but whatever it is do a smallish pattern ie a herringbone? Also a wood mantel and put pictures up that are not the same dimension as the fireplace.

The previous owner did not do any favors by painting mortar white.

You could go dark on the mortar so it blends with the stone. That in and of itself would look much better. You could also change out the firebox cover. If you like art, you could bring in a large piece.

What’s the budget?

Or leave mirror and add some sconces.

The hearth and firebox and picture are the worst parts here. Remove everything. Can you restore the hearth to the original stone? Then see what you’ve got.

Thanks for the input so far. I haven’t set a budget yet mostly because I’m at a loss as to what to do with it. My initial thought was to add some mortar and paint it. Kinda like this.

If you want a cheap DIY I can recommend paint. I had 3-4 left-over samples of paint from when I was trying to find a good grey and also some white paint. I put just a tiny bit of paint and a TON of water in a bowl and I would dap and wipe it on one stone at a time. Repeat with all the different colors. The watered paint acted like a stain of sorts.

Here is a before and after:

I agree with the bad white painted mortar. It makes the rock look bad. I normally love contrast, but this is not good. All you look at is the mortar, not the natural stone. I would try a medium gray that disappears, hopefully. It is the stone that your eye should be drawn to. I can’t really see in the photo the hearth stone. The brass on the firebox just needs to be cleaned. If you like a vintage rustic fireplace I think you could work with this. If not, drywall over it and start over and pick any style you want. I think it has potential to look nice either way, but I think natural stone is Mother Earth’s beauty

You are in this mess because someone painted! The only way to get paint off stone or brick is by sandblasting. What a huge mess. A sand storm blowing through your house. If you don’t like the stone drywall over it

I would get advice from a real designer, and there are great ones who post here, before I would do anything from design shows on TV. Google what really goes on when the cameras are NOT ON

I was considering something like this tile. I’m not sure how that would look on such a big area.

My sister has that kind of tile, but in basket weave pattern, as a kitchen backsplash. It is pretty. She cleans it often before it get really dirty because of the crevices. You could use it as a fireplace surround, add a mantel, and drywall over the stone. Does this fireplace burn wood or is it gas?

It is wood burning.

Do you use it? Would you use it and like it more if you didn’t have to haul in wood and clean out ash? Have you considered converting it to gas? Maybe that is where you should start. Some people cover over a fireplace that is not wanted and used.
I have bookshelves on both sides of my fireplace. Nice for storage

It depends on your budget and style of the house. I would start by painting the mortar a dark color that blends with the stone. That is cheap, easy to do yourself, and will absolutely improve it. If you don't like the look at that point, you can get estimates for removing the stone and using tile, but with a wood burning fireplace you will want a tile that can be cleaned. If you tile, you will also want to remove or redo the big, rustic hearth.

jennifer, the mortar wash is a good idea.

Emily Henderson give info on this one

or the paint.

either one is cheap and will buy you some time until you figure out what else you want to do. Ultimately a complete tear out would be best

some other ideas w/the beams

(if you paint it all white, and see about getting a solid piece of white quartz for the hearth, you could replicate this look)

Catherine, could you post a photo of the whole room? Beth does have a good idea about painting it as a solution to get you to the point when you can redo the whole thing. The whitewashing might work well. If it does not look natural you could just completely paint it solid white

Thanks for the numerous examples!

Hi Jennifer - would you please post a photo of the room, standing with your back to the fireplace? What is your preferred style? Contemporary, traditional, transitional, or something else? Also, do you have young children in the house?

Here are a couple examples to show how it might look by changing the grout or whitewashing the entire thing.

Darken the motor and add this Craftsman Fireplace Door in a bronze finish with a matching toolset.

Whitewash everything and use the same fireplace door and tools in a natural iron finish.

I might suggest that trying to darken the mortar with paint will leave it looking still like the mortar joints are painted. If you like the natural stone, you may want to consider grouting the joints with real mortar to give you a more finished natural look. You can tint the mortar if you want to blend with the stone.

I think white washing everything will give you a better result and will probably be easier to accomplish than tediously trying to grout or paint just the mortar joints.

Provided by: Hansen Wholesale

Fireplace Screen & Door Specialists

No, I don‘t think whitewashing will give a better result and the mock-up with the stone is obviously too dark, etc

In this article, mention is made of stone as being “the material of fortresses and castles.” https://www.pythonline.com/stone-fireplace

You write your fireplace wall is 10’ wide. It only needs to be as wide as the firebox surround. So, once you decide on the feel and style you want, demo the whole thing and make the new one only as wide as needed.

Try painting it out off white and then decide.

I have a similar FP and the mortar is almost black, giving the FP an overall dark appearance. Opposite problems.