You have no photos in your ideabooks, which are a help to houzzers. Your doors are white, and in a way, white/light brick brings them to a unity...?

Your inspirations are essential -- soft yellow might be a cottage - traditional look. Maybe like our house, you'd like base trim painted the same color as white-light walls... maybe even remove the upper trim ?

I just joined today! Hence no photos yet.... I am open to door color changing actually! Yes, cottage traditional is good... Also thinking southwestern inspired.

Welcome to Houzz. There’s lots of inspiration here. You’ll find you get better responses if you show photos of whole room, including furniture.
When I think of southwest, bright colours come to mind. Is photo below close to your desired look? For fireplace I think I might start by replacing existing mantle and corbels with a rustic looking beam. Paint colour should be determined by what else is in room.

https://www.houzz.com/photos/painted-brick-fireplace-eclectic-living-room-new-york-phvw-vp~17573153

any way you could stand in front of it and take another picture, but showing the doors on the side w/it too?

as for "another fireplace destroyed by paint". good lord, the drama. It's plain old brick. nothing to leave earth for.

Cat, how would you feel about painting that tiny crown white to blend w/the ceiling? your ceilings are already low and that tiny dark crown just makes them lower. Paint it the ceiling color or the wall color.

as for yellow, I'd rethink that w/that brick flooring. It's going to clash. Pick something w/a red or orange undertone. something in taupe family.

I'd do something like this. paint your french doors black, paint the brick a brighter white, bring in some textured jute/sisal rugs, and get a proper mantel. something like this that goes across

Oh, spray that black insert w/High Heat spray in matte black

btw, here's your unruined brick on the left. lol. Looks 10X better painted white w/the black surround and a proper mantel beam.

see how they painted the crown white to match the ceiling? the walls are prob something like a soft white or swiss coffee.

what do you think about painting the brick a soft black or deep charcoal? try that first, and you could do a white mantel surround like they've done here.

Paint the trim around your doors white (like the crown) and the doors the same darker color

bring in one of these jute rugs. you could also do it in white like this one. they did some framed shiplap above it. you could prob do it over the brick if you want to

paint the brick black and do the white surround. I like this grid mirror above the mantel.

can you DIY? You can do a cement overlay or even a roman clay overlay. Or look up mortar wash.

Here are brick colors, door colors (or dark brick colors) and far right are wall colors, along w/Natural Choice. It's better than a pale yellow as I believe it will compliment the brick .

check abalone shell and see if it works w/your brick. Looks like this on the door w/Amazing gray on the walls. you could do your french doors in the abalone. next to the white fireplace and new oak mantel, it would look really good!

Beth, no it isn't something to leave the earth over if you like the look of painted plastic fake brick sheets you get at the big box store. You just wipe out all the charm in a swipe of a paint brush.

Is the picture of your space yours or the previous owners? The wall art would have me vote for the rendering above where the brick is gray. Personally I would prefer the chimney to be hidden now that the brick is painted and only have the firebox show gray. Gray and yellow are a nice combo.

Hard to know what it looked like before it was painted, but it must have been plenty heinous if this was an improvement.

The brassy-looking fireplace doors seem wrong, both in style and in color. Replacing them with a simpler style in black might help. The fight between the white bricks of the hearth and the bricks on the floor is also jarring, but I have no suggestions there.

@functionthenlook I agree completely! The brick underneath was a red brick with orange undertones. @petula67 I also hate the old brass, the brick underneath is not bad at all... There's exposed brick in the kitchen so I don't know the motivation. 🤦‍♀️ @arcy_gw picture is mine, hmm I hadn't thought of grey!

Brown for the fireplace bricks, to match the trim., voting "no" on yellow walls, but a gray like the grout in the floor would look great. I love the brown against the walls in this photo...thinking is may be B.M. Gray Cashmere.

@beth omg I love the suggestions!!!! Yes i can DIY! I am going to seriously look at the shiplap and what a mortar wash is. I manage lumber and building materials at a local big box so can get a good deal on mortar! 🤣 I am basically updating and redoing the whole house, this is protect number one lol. I am definitely repairing all the trim!

I'm wondering if you switched out the brass insert to solid black metal if you might hate it less for now. Another thing you might not like is the busyness of the brick? If so, then something like wide board shiplap might do the trick. Easily taken off if and when you tire of it. Another option would be large square tiles of some type, maybe stone or ceramic off the top of my head.

here's how the brass would look in a matte black high heat spray.

since your brick is already painted, the mortar may or may not adhere depending on what type of paint was used

you'd use a white mortar.

diff levels of how to do it. looks really cool w/those river rock fireplaces.

you're forcing the mortar into the joints, even w/the brick, and then using a damp sponge to wipe it smooth (ish)

You can make the brick appear more rustic by selectively sanding off some of the paint on each brick.

I would lower the mantel so you have more room for art and accessories above. Eliminate the brass glass doors on the hearth.

@mdln I started thinking of the charcoal also earlier today! @BeverlyFLADeziner I agree with the mantle and I hadn't thought about just removing the doors! @Beth, definitely painting the brass!!!! And I looked up the German schmeer earlier and I guess it would help to make it more "fuzzy" not as sharp of lines? Something else occurred to me while researching that.... What about a "whitewash" but with a darker color like a charcoal? 🤷🏻‍♀️ I am also seriously looking at the ship lap idea for the top!

the brick is already painted. you really can't do a wash anymore.

This is my fireplace in my gameroom. When we moved in it was painted beige. Ugh. Thankfully they didn't touch the livingroom fireplace. I'm no artist, but I painted it to look more like brick.

I come here seldom, but was again amazed at all the help given. Beth, you were so generous with many well thought out plans and accompanying photos. So nice, you all!

@beth thank you sooooo much!!!!! Now to make a decision! 😂 @functionthenlook you did a great job!!!!! @martinca_gw sunset zone 24 I am amazed! This is the first part I've made and everyone here is so helpful!!!!

@Beth H. :- i would never have thought about using SW Abalone Shell anywhere - but now I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate it in one of my rooms!

right? I always forget about it. such a pretty shade.

Get rid of the insert and get a decorative screen. Are you putting a tv up there on the mantle?

I think you should show much more of your house. :)

If you have ceiling beams, maybe fp charcoal or urban bronze... but idk if adding dark on 2 doors is cottage look, unless you have wonderful wood beams to make a strong look of it...?

Sort of medium neutral? BMoore Abbingdon Putty / grasscloth wallpaper

Alexandria Family Room · More Info

Houzz: · Kevin Twitty Interiors says the brick is Dovetail. The wall is Mindful Gray. [Sometimes "Dovetail" looks brown and sometimes it looks gray.] Kevin Twitty Interiors: a blend between the two. Taupe. Warm and cozy.

Olivia's Family Room · More Info

I believe I read that the furniture and art is yours..? so... if eclectic is a style you like, here's dark fp, and a red covering over floor.

Checking - is that any option?

Marvin Project · More Info

Kind of hard to give the best advice if we don't know more about your style and how the fireplace plays with the rest of the room.

I’d avoid yellow walls because of flooring and suggest painting the fireplace white as well as the walls for a fresh, more modern, uninterrupted look. Spraying the brass black, changing the mantle and adding the right accessories will also help with its transformation - per Beth’s inspiration picture.

Realizing that it is just my .02 and I think it depends on the size and design of the fireplace, (I like Everdebz example) but nothing says "dungeon" more clearly to me than a big wall of black brick. YMMV. Some like that look . . .

Paint the brick a matte white, the color of your doors. Remove, or paint, the brass black.

Imo, dark brick best on lower half.

Beth posted this look already, but I thought of yours - her photo is near the bottom of her thread:

What flooring can I put over my Saltillo tile floors? (houzz.com)