Thank you. Im not crazy about the colors of the brick and built ins

What elements are staying in the room? Your sofa and chair seem modern but the chandelier is more traditional. Which do you like? Is the wall art staying?

Are your baseboard heaters electric or hot water? Do you need draperies for privacy in daytime, or in the night time? Do you need sun control? Or are they just for appearance?

What kind of fireplace screen do you need - an operational one for a wood burning fireplace?

Your room seems very bright. Maybe you could do a darker wall colour to make it cozy. A rug would pull the room together too.

We just bought the home. We need new furniture and drapes. Rug and new fixture sound like a good idea

Curtains and a rug are what you need. Not sure what can be helped with your built ins and brick. Someone already painted them and it was obviously a bad idea. You might have to rip it all out get the natural back in the brick and wood for the built ins.

You could add paneling around the built-ins to make them more substantial and cover some of the brick.

A more substantial wood mantle too

Looks like a really nice space with great natural light. I would look to remove the doors on the bookcase cabinets and convert to something open. Then paint them a color more complimentary with the brick. Honestly I think it is the ceiling and light fixture that is crying 'help me'. The ceiling could really be done to better enhance the space instead of seeing a bunch of trimwork. Get the bones of the room figured out and then the heart of the space will come together easier (furniture, rugs, window treatments, decor, etc) Good luck!

Im loving these ideas. Thank you

You need to start with your furniture layout -- layout will depend on activities that will be done in this room and how many people will use the room regularly. Not having this information, this is what I would recommend. I would put a hanging wide media cabinet on the wall across from the windows and put the TV there. A sofa across from the media cabinet and 2 chairs perpendicular to the sofa facing the fireplace to the left of the sofa, and a coffee table in the middles. A rug to ground sofa/chairs/coffee table. Then a side table or two side tables (if there is room) flanking the sofa.

The cabinets protruding from the bookshelf look a bit weird to me -- can those be removed, and hopefully there will be bricks underneath if removing.

You then need to decide how you want the room to feel. Light and airy? Cozy and dark? Casual? Formal? You want to make sure whatever you do here will go well with the rest of the house especially with the areas visible in this room. After deciding on this, you can then pick your finishes/colors.

Great suggestions. I want to paint the built ins van deusen blue and then figure out the brick

I have nothing to do for a bit, so here goes my two cents: I am unclear if you want to do a more simple cosmetic DIY or more involved changes - so I will include a little of both.

You could perhaps replace white shelves that are in the built-ins with thick wood shelves (that match a more substantial wood mantle - thicker and maybe longer), maybe strip the paint off of the built-ins and/or just paint or wall paper the very back wall of built-in's (see pics)? You might be able to tear the built-in's out and replace with floating shelves? Perhaps cut out those weird cabinets that jut out from built in's. You could add a thick slab of wood across the hearth on both sides of fireplace, with drawers underneath - so it would act like a bench with storage underneath and expand beyond current built-in's to wall (kina like image below, but different). You could potentially build it directly over current hearth. Or, you could take off the doors on the cabinets and fill with wood for fireplace, as a decoration (but also useful, however takes away storage space)?

Beyond painting the brick, you could cover/partially cover with vertical wood slats with small space in between each slat, cement or stucco over it, shiplap, maybe a more traditional panel molding. Depends on your style and budget.

Maybe move tv to center of fireplace mantle or on a different wall? Do you want your couch facing the fireplace? If so, the couch would be moved forward from current position and leave space behind it for xyz.

The ceiling begs to be covered. Some sort of wood or white beams on ceiling, and/or tongue and groove wood in that rectangular area by chandelier? You could even make the wood in a pattern such as following the rectangle shape or herringbone. You could do the entire ceiling in tongue and groove - wood or white.

There are some "custom baseboard covers" out there. Depends on your style and budget. You could also have an iron-worker/welder create a cover, maybe there would be a few choices of materials? Etsy might also have some options.

Yes, new sectional/chandelier/curtains or window treatments. Hard to suggest not knowing your style.