Spraying the fireplace is easy if you can remove it. Just talked it outside and clean then spray paint it black with high temperature black paint. Not sure about the mantel.

The mantel needs to be rebuilt entirely.

I'd take a shot at an alteration before scrapping the whole thing.

Is this a gas or wood burning FP ? Who told you it was against code? IMO while you are at it find a different place for the TV How long has the surround been there ? I need more info and you need to have a FP pro check this out to make sure you do it right

Unless you are doing a project that triggers a whole-house code review you don't have to do anything to bring old work up to current codes. So unless you have some particular reason for concern my first choice would be to do nothing. What you have passed muster for a long time and doesn't appear to pose any immediate threat.

If you have to bring it up to the current code it's going to need to be bigger in all dimensions, which will be a challening remodel to have it look good. Making it taller is probably fairly easy with bigger plinth blocks under the side pillars, but making it wide enough to get the requisite side clearances (12" iirc) requires a potentially ugly splice. I'd think about cutting it in half and adding an element in the middle that looks intentional rather than like a mistake. Then you will have to deal with the now-exposed brick/wallboard border, which can probably best be done by tiling over both the brick and whatever is under the current mantle.

Chances are good that making a new mantle will be easier and end up looking better. Swapping it for a surround made of non-flammabe materials is another option if you'd lke to keep it smaller.

On one fireplace in a house I owned I was able to simply remove the brass from the prefab metal fireplace box. It was mostly inlayed strips that peeled out rather easily. Yours may (and probably is) different but you might consider taking a shot at removing it.. If you paint it be sure to use a high temperature paint that will withstand the head generated by the fireplace. Good luck!

We just bought the place and did not have it inspected (cash) but knew there may be an issue with it. It is a masonry fireplace (wood burning) with a gas insert that is not operational (gas valve and gas assembly has been cooked.) We are just thinking a few years down the road when we go to sell it and it gets inspected, it will not pass. Combustible material has to be 6" from box, but because the trim juts out, we will need it to be about 10" from the box. We were thinking of having a carpenter somehow cut that little piece of trim off that is right around the brick. Just looking for ideas how to make it legal without a big project. The tv above the fireplace is the only place it can be in the room - no walls to use! We tried every other option before mounting it there as that was the costly way to do it.