IMO it would look nice w/o those sides.

I agree it is overwhelmingly big! Demo the brick. What new look appeals to you?

What Beverly said.👌

I like the brick. If it were mine, I would leave it, as is. I might also consider bringing in wood flooring or wood look vinyl planks or a carpet more flattering to brick color - and maybe white paint for walls.

I think this brick fireplace is great! I think you just need to work with it, rather than against it, in the surrounding area. I agree, that white paint on the walls, an elegant black fireplace screen rather than the gold, and, if possible, a more neutral flooring (wood, pergo, carpet). Some small changes could make a real difference and would be much easier than ripping out brick. Whitewashing the brick could look nice too, although personally, I prefer natural brick to painted brick.

Thanks for these great ideas. Beverly- love it. great photoshopping too. We just bought the place so those shelves are out anyways and we are replacing with dark wood floors of some sort. here is the whole room. The faux beam and black screen would really work for now and if we wanted to redo the whole thing down the line we could

Different, wider art (this one fights with the brick), a different fireplace screen, a simple wood mantel, wood floors...all good ideas.

I would keep brick as is but would change up the mantel and screen

If you are changing your floors, do that first! Once the carpeting is out, your fireplace will look different. It’s always easier to keep it, and your opinion of it will probably change immediately upon pulling out the blue. I love a lot of the ideas Beverly gave you, especially the black book shelves! Congratulations on your new home. Keep us posted.

Why ruin a beautiful masonry fireplace? So confused as to why it's "overdone?" If you want to modernize, spray paint the existing fireplace surround a matte black.

Add some appropriately sized artwork -- currently the artwork is almost invisible because it's small and very muted.

Add a wood mantle as BeverlyFlaDeziner suggests.

This could be an incredibly beautiful focal point, but unfortunately it's not being played up as the focal point.

Suggest painting walls, consider new or rearranging furniture.

Good luck!

Still got some updates like a beam and a gas insert but this came out great without trimming it down. Thanks for the help!

Happy you like the new look, I think you could add something large over mantle in keeping with the size of the brick backdrop to grab attention (lineup of tiny things are overwhelmed by the large space)

I like the painted fireplace above (japek) and here are a few more painting ideas. I would add a wood mantel for more impact as well as more accessories along with a black fireplace trim. If you don't want to paint the bricks, it needs to be accessorized to make a contrast with the brick such as a black fireplace trim and perhaps a wood mantel. You can be inspired by some of the pictures below.