My vintage 1980 center hall colonial featured a rustic family room, with rough sawn cedar wainscoting and a floor to ceiling brick fireplace. I updated the room in a traditional style, removing the wainscoting and replacing the rough sawn trim with clean white molding. Part of the update was changing the existing fireplace from a imposing brick wall to one with a traditional painted mantel that becomes part of the room.

No contractors were harmed in the update of this fireplace, all work was done by me. The most difficult part of the project was removing the existing brick mantel shelf. Three rows of protruding bricks had to be chiseled flat to the brick wall. I then covered the brick wall with Sheetrock. I purchased a wood mantel surround at:

I was able to use it with only a minor modification to the height. I cut out the sheet rock behind the surround and mounted it directly onto the bricks. The raised hearth was topped with large stone like tiles and wrapped in wood trim. The exposed bricks around the fire box opening are all that is visible of the old fireplace. They were cleaned with a mild solution of muriatic acid.