IMO the gray trim makes no sense at all. I would start by painting that a nice warm white then do the same for the FP surround . Takes some pics from further back so we can get a feel for your style . What I see looks like a velvet sofa in a cabin so I need a bit of help with understanding your style.

Thank you for the feedback. I'll add more pictures this evening of the room.

The sofa is a charcoal gray fabric (not velvet :-)

And it's not even long for this room. The furniture we have is not really suited for the layout currently. Even the wall art isn't really our style, but we had these paintings sitting around and was better than a blank wall at the time of moving on.

Paiting the trim in the room is possible, but would prefer not to.... as there is a lot of it, including doors and crown. The wood paneling seen is really only on the one wall in the entire house. The rest of our home is all white trim with grey walls.

I would tile the brick rather than paint it and keep the floor tiles.

Another possibility is to get a fire screen tall enough it obscures the brick.

Looking forward to seeing the rest of the room.

I realize there is a big difference in the fundamentals of this house and yours but thought you’d be interested to see this

Living Rooms · More Info

Thanks. We have been thinking that tiling the brick is the way to go. Perhaps we should paint the surround the same as the rest of the room trim. We kind of are liking the idea of a patterned tile of some sort. I could also easily paint the walls (a lot easier than painting trim) The terra cotta hearth tiles have to go no matter what.

If you look closely at that gray room you’ll see that the tiles are a cobalt blue. I think they look really nice with the gray mantel. I think would not be difficult to find a matching paint to do the tiles on the floor.

The abstract art over their fireplace reminded me of a Hokusai print that also combined blue-gray and yellow — but maybe it is too much like the artwork you already have that say you don’t like!

"Travellers Climbing Up a Steep Hill" Framed Canvas Giclee by Hokusai, 26x36" · More Info

Something else I picked up from that photo was the blush-y warm pillow on the white chair. I was thinking such a pillow would be nice on your sofa.

I Like the idea of just painting the mantel to match the rest of the trim and adding a tile face.

Here it is with the herringbone marble tiles since I already had that facing handy.

Thank you both. Like both tile ideas. The cobalt blue is appealing as grey and blue tones are prominent in rest of our home.

Option 1. paint mantle to match trim. Change tile as Hansen shows. Looks nice.

Option 2. Same as 1, but also paint the walls. A random cream room when the rest of your house is grey tones seems off to me.

Option 3. Paint grey trim to match the rest

of the trim in the house. Seems off to me to have only one room with way different trim color. change to tile surround and hearth. Also paint walls to coordinate w rest of house.

Option 4. Same as 3 but paint the mantle a color that pops. Would make it a statement piece. Would also distract from the wood panel wall.

I’d pick 4 assuming budget allowed.

pop of color. Pick your favorite accent color that goes w your decor. A real statement piece. Easy to repaint in a few years if your tastes change.

Love Mamaham's idea. Blue works well with the gray trim. Just drop a throw pillow on the couch that matches the mantel.

@Hansen Wholesale love it! the blue looks really nice.

Fwiw, I would use a tile in a less European finish than polished marble or anything with pure white in it. And I wouldn’t put blue pillows on the sofa. Again fwiw, from pictures alone, I think I like gray mantle with blue surround and floor tiles vs. blue mantel. But not my house!

These prints are cheap. Maybe one of them would work if you want something over the mantel temporarily

Wild Apple Portfolio 'Geography of the Heavens II' Canvas Art, 32"x16" · More Info

Wild Apple Portfolio 'Geography of the Heavens VI' Canvas Art, 47"x20" · More Info

Wild Apple Portfolio 'Geography of the Heavens III' Canvas Art, 47"x20" · More Info

Also wanted to add that in the photo of the bright yellow fireplace, I like the way the artwork above floats inside empty painted framed. I think it could be an interesting way to trick the eye a bit over the mantle, diminishing the look of the wood panelIng. If you look at the all-gray fire place I posted, you can see a lot of that was created with pre-made molding.

Looks like you might already have a light-colored rug, which would be right I think

or you could just buy these pillow covers and call it quito ;)

Pillow Perfect Checker Board Throw Pillow, Gray Orange Cream, 16.5" · More Info

Consider the tile idea. The variety of options can make your fireplace the star of the room. If you like the black mantle, then most tiles will work with it. If you’re completely redecorating your room, hold off doing the tile but get lots of samples. And your wall color may not work if you start moving towards cool blues and greens. It’s a very pretty fireplace. Just needs a refresh.

Ok here are some more photos of the area. Thanks for the great ideas so far.

We don't love the furniture arrangement in this room, but it's what we have for now.

It's a somewhat awkward space.... the area with the large grey chair used to be a full wall prior to us taking it down, after moving in a couple of years ago. We are just now getting to doing any decor work in here. This is a casual family area / tv watching.....and we use the gas logs in the fireplace quite often.

My thought was doing a sectional along the wall, coming out to the rear door (that we use) and then out into to the room.... and have the room access where the big grey chair is now. But figured we'd start with the fireplace and work from there.

Again, painting walls and/ or fireplace surround is much preferable than changing trim color.

Since you have a 1930's house you might consider period Arts and Crafts tiles. Lots out there these days. They would be a focal point.

After doing what you like with the fireplace, the only things that would be on my priority list would be getting a bigger light-colored rug to fill the living room

Loloi Hathaway HTH-03 9'-0"x12'-0" Java, Multi Rug · More Info

and painting the woodwork/cabinetry under the window next to the dining table a dark gray like your sofa or whatever blue you might use on the flreplace. I would replace the big gray toss pillows with light colored pillows to the gray sofa, fun pillows on the love seat.

Someday when you have absolutely nothing better to do, trying putting the oversized ottoman in front of the the gray sofa with a tray on it to see how it looks. Might work, might not.

I still don't understand the grey trim in this room- you have white trim elsewhere, and the windows are white, so why not white trim? The grey just looks really 'stripy' to me- colonial trim is skinny anyhow and accenting it separate from other components like the windows just accentuates that... I also like the brick with the floor so what do I know.

Something inexpensive and fun behind the dining table

Louisiana Heron Painted Wall Mural, 36" x 36" · More Info

The trim (and walls) were painted by the prior owners. The room actually used to be painted entirely red and it was entirely closed off from rest of the house with built ins where they big grey chair is.

I'm not opposed to one day painting the trim, but that's beyond the scope of what I'm able to tackle right now. I could more easily paint the window.

Yes we feel we also need a larger rug.

@HALLETT & Co.I also like the floor tiles, and am okay with the brick — but ok with the gray trim too — especially once I stumbled across those gray and brick checkerboard pillows.

I’m not okay with the black mantle. Since it will need to be primed before it is painted, maybe once strategy would be to do it in stages — prime white, live with it , then decide the rest of the direction — what color for a finish paint, and what tiles if any.

@User that box by the dining room table is a doggie door (that eventually needs removed) not a cabinet :-)

ok, now that I see more photos, I change my suggestion. I would either paint the mantle the same color as trim OR paint all the trim/mantle to match the kitchen. I agree with others to paint trim but we all have our limitations (time, energy, money). Painting the mantle a statement color I think would overpower this space. I think a sectional would also make it feel smaller. There just does not seem to be room for it.

agree on larger rug. I'd also move the sofa out a little bit so it is not right on the wall. That should actually make the room feel larger although it is counterintuitive. Same for the chair if there is room. In general, furniture looks best if it is not right on the wall. I also agree to try the ottoman with the sofa.

How do you feel about TV over mantle? I usually do not like that, but it may work for this space. Then you could either put a chair at an angle in the corner or I see you have toys there. Make it a little storage area for toys etc. If you can live without the end table, remove it and move sofa more to door without blocking and you should be able to lay on couch and see TV.

Just some ideas - this is a difficult space! you are making it work for you which is great!!!

@Mamaham_NC_Zone7 thank you. I think we are definitely leaning towards painting the surround same as the trim....and probably paint the window so it matches the rest of the doors.

We can't really move the chair out any further as it would impede the walkway. The chair is really too big for the room.... but it's comfy! But it also feels like it crowds into the kitchen too much.

The sectional (smaller profile) we thought would still give us better access, make for better space in the kitchen/ eating area, and still give enough seating for the 4 of us. Yes a very tricky space. Should have seen how absurd it was when the wall was still there.

We don't like the TV over fireplaces, plus the angle would be really bad for viewing.... much too close and looking up.

Hard to tell in photos, but I don’t see how a sectional would fit there without blocking the door? Do you mean a sofa that has a chaise on one end? I think of sectional as sofa with a corner. Do you mean something like this?

@Mamaham_NC_Zone7 an L shaped sectional was the thought.... it could be up to about 105" along the back wall and not impede the door, and roughly 7' coming into the room and still leave a 4' walkway where the grey chair is. A chaise would work if we can't find anything, but a full "L" shaped I thought would be better.

The current sofa is 84" + the end table is another 20".

ok. got it.

Can you use the existing ottoman on the big chair to fake a sectional with the sofa?

@User I suppose we could but that's not really a long term solution we'd care for.

Yes, I should have said “temporarily”

Sorry if I missed this in your responses, but have you ever tried swapping the positions of the gray sofa and the big chair? The sofa could come much more forward into the room, making it possible to see the TV. You could put a console table with shelves behind it Which would be useful

ACME Gorden Console Table in Weathered Oak and Antique Silver · More Info

I thought ital was just suggesting to move the chair to the sofa to see what a sectional would look like. ??

@Mamaham I had the same thoughts as you did (switch the sofa and grey chair; move all the big pieces away from the wall). The tv position is the challenge here. If you don’t like it over the fireplace (I agree) you need to leave it where is. But definitely move your furniture in. Yes, it sounds nutty to do in a small living room, but when the furniture hugs the walls, it looks like a hurricane came through. And a new rug, with the feet of the sofa and grey chair on it, will make the room look better. However, I think the huge grey chair and ottoman are the problem. You need something smaller so the whole room doesn’t feel so cramped. Can it be used in another part of the house?
We now have a better perspective on the room. I like the idea of matching the fireplace to your trim, whatever color it is, to blend into the room better than the black.

@RedRyder yes we have other areas in the house where we can use the chair. As well as the sofa... if we replace it with w/ a small sectional/ chaise.

Plan to paint surround (and window) to match existing trim... get larger rug....just need to figure out what type of tile to go with.

Also don't know if it makes sense to change the wall color?