The installer strongly advises that we don't finish it with more of the same black steel. He said we were in a perfect situation to not use it as we have enough already.

We had a contractor out that specializes in fireplace surrounds and he wasn't opposed to the black steel, but also said it wouldn't be his first choice.

I told him we plan to paint our walls from brown to gray and replace the current carpeting. He said he might do a white (with some plack) quartz for both the surround and hearth.

We had another contractor out with his interior decorator wife and they suggested the same black steel for the surround and then whatever we wanted for the hearth. We've shown friends as well and they all said black steel for surround. So it's interesting that the common end-user suggests the steel and the people that do it for a living do not. What are your thoughts? And should it be clean-cut corners or arched like the steel?

I added some white brick pictures up top. scroll back up and look at the first pics

Wow, thank you very much for the timely and helpful info. Out of curiosity, in your opinion are there any suitable paint colors for this natural brick color to stay, or are you generally always more inclined to paint the brick black or white?

It just depends on your style.

White is brighter and lighter, black would be more modern or industrial, or even a modern farmhouse.

I like this look

but I also like this look!

and I love this one too! You could do any of these options

black iron porcelain tiles

the brick would be firred out and have durock attached. tile goes on this. (or you could tile directly onto the brick with a lot of thinset mortar.

You don't have to go through the expense of getting actual black steel. the tiles come in all shapes and colors

what's your style?

show an overall view of the room and what you want it to look like

What does the room and connecting areas look like? I would only do black if your house is modern or industrial. White always opens up a room so I prefer the white examples @Beth H shared. And white is better with gray walls, which you said you wanted.

I'd think really hard before painting that brick. What style are you going for? I see Arts and Crafts in that brick and in the design. Need to know more. Agree that gray is not going to be the best compliment for the brick. Why gray? Can we see some inspiration pics? Don't see any fireplaces in your idea books.

You can also stain brick: see www.dyebrick.com. We did this on a newly built retaining wall, to get them to more closely match the old brick that was on a house. It worked great.

@RedRyder The exterior of the house would be farmhouse. We just bought it a few months ago. We would like to paint the exterior, but struggling on that color too. One idea was white with black trim and shutters.

@RedRyder

Not our furniture, realtor photos. All the interior walls are shades of brown, but we generally don't like the brown wall paint and want to paint most of the walls. Eventually we will replace all trim and kitchen cabinets to be white. The carpet will be replaced. Not sure if with carpet or LVP. There will be no TV in this room.

Thanks for posting these additional pics. Looks like you have a lot to work with but wow, the styles are all over the place with this house. Don't poke at certain elements like the fireplace or you'll just continue to muddle the space both inside and out. Spend time and money with a good interior/exterior designer and get a plan. Then work the plan as time, materials and budget allows.

As an example, replacing the stair railings needs to happen in conjunction with any work you do on the fireplace which needs to happen in conjunction with the flooring, which needs to happen in conjunction with the tone of the exterior, etc. etc.

Until you are very solid on what your style and vision are and really understand how to make a space like this cozy and inviting, spend time and money on planning. Otherwise you'll always be chasing the look you want.

Wow. That is amazing space! I agree with @tozmo1 that with all the disparate styles throughout, you need an interior designer to help you. Don’t start with the fireplace without a whole house context.

I see what looks like hardwood in the kitchen area so I would be concerned about adding LVP adjacent to that. To me, floors are the first critical factor in a house since they affect every room. I LOVE the light floors in the kitchen. Would you want to continue them throughout? Or do you dislike that color? If you’re going to do all the floors, then LVP is a good, economical, easy to live with choice. I’m a hardwood person so I would go for engineered wood floors before LVP. Dogs and kids change that decision, of course.

The outside could be done in white with dark window trim. For a longer lasting look, go with the better, more expensive, permanent cover of Romabio. Let’s hope @ Beth H shows you some options there.
Your house is great. You will get a lot of help here from the Houzz community but you ultimately need a plan for a house this size. The windows give you tons of good light and the kitchen looks useable and non-offensive for now (you’ll tell us more about that later) but see the house as a whole and plan for it to be cohesive. Congratulations on the new house!

I agree w/above. get all your ducks in a row first.

great house w/great light! If I had it, I would do something like Studio McGee (this is Swiss Coffee at 75%)

If you like this look, then just do the brick in white. you can always alter it down the road.

If you like these items, look at Studio McGee website. She sells everything

You could easily copy this look. paint out all the window trim, try some built ins, or chests or bookshelves, textured rugs,

I'd look into removing that wall between living and dining area and opening things up like this

Here, this room is almost identical to yours! look at what they did to the stair rail/cat walk area.

I love the cabinets on either side of the fireplace. I also really like the wood trim work to the ceiling in the dark charcoal/black color. I like how all of the wood molding is painted white, around the windows, the spindles, etc. It goes perfectly w/this choice of furniture. and if you want, look for the LVP flooring that mimics a natural French Oak wood plank

photoshopped onto you yours. (those french doors would look great painted black!)

this one is also the same layout as yours. different stone material, but if you lime washed yours, it would look similar.

see the brick on this? this is what it could look like. Ignore the giant white mantle in the middle. I'd just do a wood beam across yours.

some other options

a warmer stone. if you like these tones, the LimeWash does come in a beige color instead of a bright white.