If you're keeping all the baseboards and trim that I see that's white, then paint the woodwork at the FP that same color so it doesn't clash with your gray walls.. Are these your furnishings? Do you plan to leave TV there? Could you remove the doors and use that side as wood storage or is this not a real FP? Looks like maybe gas, but some use the wood storage idea as decor only.

Thanks! Not my belongings - previous owner. Probably won’t leave the tv there. It is not a wood fireplace, unfortunately!! Good point about the baseboards.. they are staying white. Thank you so much!! I’m new to all of this :)

I actually like the brick. Maybe you could find a way to keep it.

When you say "paint the walls gray", that can be anything from a soft greige (which is barely gray) to a blue gray, a green gray or even a gray that looks purple! Paint comes in any color, so easier to coordinate that later, rather than first.

I think a good rule of thumb is to replace the MOST difficult thing first.

In other words, if you're really set on removing the brick, do it before the new hardwood!

Work from "the top down" for any demo, especially stone work!

It's also smart to live in the house for awhile, as your likes and dislikes will change.

Really helpful Mary Elizabeth! By gray I meant Agreeable Gray or something similar in the greige family. Excellent advice, thank you!

I suggest leaving the fireplace as is for a year. It’s hard to know what will be great until you live with it. Once you paint the walls or make flooring changes. Then after all that the fireplace will be obvious.

that's some nice brickwood design. I'd leave it, and paint it.

for sure paint out the cabinet (or even better, remove it now before you get the new flooring!)

I'd also take out that mantel and replace w/a shorter, stained wood beam style mantel.

(it really isn't a big deal to remove those wood items from that fireplace. not sure why you want to wait a few years. Do it now before you paint and before you get new flooring!)

similar one to yours. horrible w/this white mantel! don't really care for the wall color or floor color together. this brick w/these color schemes would look better limed or painted.

Basically, you want the surrounding area to look like this, along w/the beam mantel. (ignore the color of this brick. )

Farmhouse on the Prairie · More Info

Or a beam mantel like this. You basically want the surrounding wall area to resemble this. (you could any color cabinets or shelves you like)

enlarge this picture. this is a beautiful fireplace. Yours would be better w/the lime application.

You could choose to do the trim surround, but I like this very light white limewash and how it accentuates the herringbone design

german schmear application

finished it looks like this.

your herringbone design would look beautiful limewashed or schmear like this. you could opt to do the slight built-ins on either side

If you removed everything around it and just kept the brick as is (with a diff mantel or no mantel) you'd get this look

Imagine this is your brick w/the limewash. (but w/a beam mantel and no tv) I love the dark blue/black accent surrounding it.

pretend this is your brick. do you like it style like this? you don't have to have a mantel

What do you think about the built ins w/natural wood? this brick has a heavier mortar wash.

similar brick design but this was poorly done. it all but obliterates the herringbone design.

This paint job isn't as thick, so it looks a bit better. I like the blue cabinets too

if you choose to cover the brick, you could veneer it w/shiplap or any other type of MDF trim molding design

Yes remove wood, lime wash and add a real wood beam mantel

The fireplace is great! Beth has given you a lot of good ideas of how to make it even more great. Please don't cover it in stone. No matter what stone you select, someone on Houzz in ten years will be asking how to make it look more updated. Brick is forever.

What is your style? You say you are new to this. Thanks for being honest about that. I can see from your ideabooks that you like darker wood with white trim. All of your ideabooks have that look not matter the room. I think that is why this wood around the fireplace is distasteful to you. Would you like the wood to be dark? If so, explore finding a decorative painter in your area who can change it up. Do you want it to be a darker gray like the cabinets in your kitchen ideabook? That's an easy change.

Please go slowly. Style trends are shifting from gray and neutrals to a more traditional look and you fireplace shows that mix of styles. Lucky you, your house if both modern and traditional and really pretty.

I know you are itching to put your stamp on the house, but every good designer advises you wait at least a year before making changes. Let the house speak to you and after a year. look at your ideabooks and see how you've changed.

The brick is beautiful, it just doesn't go well with the beige on the walls.

Is the brick the same as the outside of the house? Brick fireplaces often tie the interior and exterior of the home, providing a feeling of harmony. (Frank Lloyd Wright and others following his organic design methods often repeat exterior materials on the inside of the home for this exact reason).

Painting the right color may be all you need to do.

Thank you Jennifer. Yes, it’s the same as outside. You are right - painting the walls the right color may be the solution!! Exactly why we are waiting to do anything permanent to the fireplace. Thanks for your comment

I have a large pink brick fireplace and just painted my foyer BM Frosted Toffee. Similar to the color I used to repaint your pics with SW color Snap app. I used SW Reticence in their app.

You can see the brick on the outside of the home through the window. If I painted the brick wall it would loose that connection.

Walls were originally a gold metallic wallpaper and the floors needed cleaned and re-grouted and the brick needed cleaned (Over the 50 years since it was built there were times when smoking was popular and everything had a bit of yellow tar buildup.

Not sure if you can imagine just the paint color change, which is all your home would need, but it felt so different when I finally got the walls painted.

(Listing photos).

Wow!! I had no idea everyone would be so helpful!! A huge thank you to everyone who contributed- Beth, your pictures are really helpful along with your narrative. I am new to this and don’t have a design “bone” in my body so you all have been great!

Update: we removed the hearth and mantle today because of this group. I’m so happy!!!

@Alison Leibovitz - Do you have photos of how you updated your fireplace? Thank!