I agree I like the idea of orange painted fireplace it would look great, black grey would be way too dark for the room. By painting it orange it would compliment instead of contrast and it would feel better as the furniture is not set up to support the fireplace as a focal point. I would suggest either removing or painting the papasan chair a lighter ivory wash or the wood, and cover the cushion with orange fabric, something fun, also add som e colourful pillows to your sofas. You need some layering and more texture.

I think you could paint, or change the surround with a cover up.... it is not a focal point in your room now. I would try to warm it up....

I would not paint it, I painting is very hard

Sorry, unpainting is very hard. Why not try refinishing it to make it brighter and work with the reds to make it pop?

As an example, see the before and after of a brick column that was discovered during our reno

Wonderful suggestions! The thought never crossed my mind to use a color other than white or black!

I feel motivated now to head in a certain direction and cant wait to start today! Thank you all!

HI --- Because you were so handy at doing the flooring , I am going to suggest something more than just painting the fireplace . I think you should continue going with the flooring tile . You did a beautiful job by the way and I think you could do this too. Think about removing all the brick and mantel and the hearth too and then continue that same tile of the floor on the whole wall of the fireplace but applied on the horizontal .This will make that wall look like one big fireplace and it is more modern than the old . I see a bit of Asian touches and think that is what you should continue for the room if you like . Then I would paint the whole room a medium blue grey and add red accents . If it's not possible to tie in the floor tile to replace where the hearth was, - then you could just retile that area in a glossy black or grey granite or stone . So .... what do you think ... is this something you could handle ??

Lefty,

I LOVE the idea of painting the room a blue-gray and the red accents. If my boyfriend is on board with tile, we could do that in the future. We do a big re-do to a certain room about every year. The upstairs living space was it this year, but I love the idea of tile for the wall and fireplace area.

Will probably paint for a quick fix (to satisfy my need for immediacy) and in the meantime draw up a plan for the tile. Once again, great idea! :)