It would help if you could offer pictures of the space and even examples of what you like. Are you making a new fireplace or updating an existing one? Is this wood, electric, gas?

Following. I need to make this decision, too.

It is an in-depth remodel, closer to a new build. It's a wood-burning fireplace. We're in the framing stage, so this is the best picture I have of the space.

It is hard to really advise with so little info Are you more traditionl in your style ? Could be my paranoia but some of that wood seems really close to thta firebox As for an isea why not something really simple like this that you can remove easily to do dhte brick you want down the road just run the tile right up the wall in any color and type of large format tile

With wood burning, clearance to combustibles becomes very important. Brick (not thin brick) is one of the absolute cheapest options to cover it, and the whole needs to be cement board, etc.

Here are a few pics I like. They're all shiplap, which is probably not in the budget. Everything above the mantle will likely need to be drywall.

Hard to offer suggestions since it’s not clear what style the home is - i’d be tempted to go uber simple with a honed absolute black granite surround and then just do the shiplap above (shiplap should not be expensive compared to other materials)

@Minardi Is there a reason not to use thin brick? We did a thin-brick wall in another house, so I think we could diy it to save some labor. Like the first picture above, maybe we could do thin brick for the surround, then some kind of slab for the hearth.

Also, if we decided to hire a mason and use real brick, would it look odd to have top of the hearth done in brick, but the face and sides of the hearth in wood/drywall? The fireplace wall wraps around into the room behind it, so if we used brick for the whole hearth, I'm not sure how it would transition from brick to the other surface on the side walls.

If changing when budget permits, I’d go with a very simple design that can be easily altered. Suggest an inlaid hearth to save money, as you’ll probably want to complement the new design. Consider going black, so it’s not visually interrupted. Use shiplap on the upper section, but if not possible, the reclaimed mantle and accessories will add needed interest.

You are not doing any wood around a wood burning fireplace firebox unless you want to burn the house down. You've got some very wrong ideas about both budget and suitable materials. Thin brick is much more expensive than full brick. It's not that difficult to set either, when you have both a laser and a string level, and the application is just decorative.

Either way, the entire surround as a whole has to be built with the thickness of the finish materials in mind, so the firebox can be set at the correct depth. That's another burn the house down gotcha. I think you'd really benefit from a fire department captain visiting you and looking at that. It doesn't look like it's built right from the beginning. There's too much flammable material in that pic. Steel studs and cement board are the material of choice for building a wood burning surround.

@Maureen According to the fireplace guy, the black metal surround can be covered with a non-combustible material, so we don't have to keep the black. The bottom part of the surround will be covered by the hearth.

@Minardi I'm just using information provided by our contractor and fireplace installer. If there's building code that says this is done wrong, I'd love to see it and share it with them.

A wood burning insert burns much hotter and has more fire risk than a gas insert. There are 0 distance to combustible electric or gas inserts possible. Not so for a wood burner. You need to provide the model number for the specs.

https://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/nfpa-211-standard-development/211

Model is EL42. Contractor says it was installed per manufacturer specs. I can confirm measurements next time I'm onsite.

The wall isn't that large. You might be able to afford a brick veneer.

Here is a link to El Dorado. They offer thin brick and stone for homes.

https://www.westlakeroyalbuildingproducts.com/stone/eldorado-stone/tundrabrick?profile=696&color=697&title=TundraBrick%C2%AE

Another option is Floor & Decor

https://www.flooranddecor.com/search?q=brick&tab=search-tabs-products&sz=48

They offer thin brick and thin brick panels