We didn't remove the brick, we covered the top portion with drywall and covered the brick on the bottom portion with marble tile. Good luck with yours. You can flip through the photos in this gallery to see before and after. Here is a link that might be useful: Fireplace remodel

I agree with snookums-get rid of the raised hearth. That might help. Why on earth would a builder do that? Sheesh. We have a center fireplace (chimney is in center of house and not on a wall) and the firebox is not centered in the brick chimney either on the main floor or downstairs. It makes me nuts. I just don't get it. you could also camouflage it some by eliminating that mantle, adding a box in the wall for wood and putting up a mantle above both that is just a shelf type without the side supports.

I like the Instagram picture. If you're going to go asymmetrical, it has to be way off center so it looks like a design feature, not an accident. I like the look of the stone (I'm assuming you plan to remove the small brick surround you have currently). I think going floor to ceiling would actually add some visual height to the room which would be nice. If you're unsure, you could try painting the wall (and the brick surround, if its definitely going away) to emulate where you want to put stone. It would help you get the feel for what it would look like. This would let you play with proportion as well, to figure out how wide you want to go. (I think i would go more narrow that it is tall. I like the proportions you mocked up in scrap wood.)

Super helpful conversation everyone! We're deciding between centered and off-center for a slightly different reason... we're off grid and the room in question has some large passive solar gain windows and also that's the part of the room with the highest ceiling area. Our primary use for the ceiling fan is to circulate that heated air back down into the living space in winter. We're not going to have much if any use for summer cooling (I'm writing this on April 27 and just yesterday they were enforcing snow chains on the main road to our place!) I also don't like the sensation of air blown at me by a ceiling fan because it dries out my contact lenses. So the whole purpose of the ceiling fan, really, is just for winter circulation of warm air. In that case, would people agree that we should put the ceiling fan as high up the sloped ceiling as we can and as close to the area of hot air, even though that means it won't be centered in the room? That same area will also be an "area" in terms of space layout because it's where our guests who like to be warm will likely congregate. Thanks!