I have seen on the web brick panels that might work for you. The panels are real brick, but a fraction of an inch thick so you can apply them in places where regular brick is not suitable. How to apply them on a brick surround might be a challenge. It might be best to hire a contractor with some experience to do that. I think if you do a Google search with a term like brick panel, you'll sources for such a product. I'm pretty sure they come in a variety of styles. Good luck.

As I suspected, the ball is way too small to be featured as the sole item on the stand. It looks like the perfect size for a coffee table or side table. Or it would work as a part of a grouping in a low planter with orchids and other tropical plants and greenery, for that British Colonial feel. Then that could be placed on the plant stand. If you do that, consider wrapping it with a textured fabric like a rough burlap, after painting a basecoat color on the ball to hide the oriental design. Or buy some of the hammered metal spray paints (I believe Krylon makes them) and do a copper or pewter or antique brass finish.

"I was wondering why I was having trouble figuring out what material was used to make countertops 100 yrs ago...there were no countertops!" Welllllllll, not exactly! Get yourself a copy of Catharine Beecher's "The American Woman's Home", written in 1869, in which she advocated the fitted kitchen with "continuous work surfaces" (aka countertops). (Do ignore the religiosity and "moralizing", she was a woman of her time.) Find the version with the illustrations, you'll probably have to get it used. I was STUPID and lent mine out, and of course have never gotten it back! There are actually quite a few good books on kitchens and baths from ~100 years ago... Jane Powell's "Bungalow Kitchens" and "Bungalow Bathrooms" are very informative and cover a much wider range in time period and housing style than just bungalows, so the titles are deceptive. There are some fantastic photos of unrestored rooms, too. One of the great things about those books is that she has both "obsessive restoration" and "compromise restoration" options. Esther Schmidt's "Victorian Kitchens & Baths" has a couple of "slave to period" kitchens/baths, some "interpretation" kitchens/baths, and some "you gotta be freakin' kidding me" ones. :-) It's mostly just for the pictures though, there are some serious factual errors. Old House Journal and Old House Interiors often feature kitchens and baths as well. Sadly, the previous owner of our ca. 1900 millworker's house was a flipper who did some dreadful things in the name of "modernizing" so we're actually going to be going backwards on many things - the house is not really "worth" an all-out restoration (it would cost far, far more than the value of the house could ever be) but bringing back the charm and personality is important to us. As for what to live without that many people consider "mandatory" these days, speaking only personally... I can live without glassed-in showers big enough to wash an entire football team at once, steam showers, body sprays, jacuzzis, multiple sinks, more cabinetry than the average kitchen, the notion that there must be a minimum of one full bath per resident. I do admit that I miss the warming mats under tile floors, but that's a completely invisible addition if one is already remodeling, and it's not a catastrophic loss. I miss a separate shower and tub, but again, it's a luxury rather than a necessity. I can live happily without commercial appliances in the kitchen - I have to laugh at how many of those gigantic kitchens with $25,000 in appliances are used for little more than reheating takeout, and how many people insist they absolutely must have such lavish amenities to cook a decent meal when many of our grandmothers turned out delicious Sunday dinners for a dozen with a four-burner range and a tiny fridge with a shoebox-sized freezer compartment. (I have cooked professionally in a kitchen smaller than 10x10 furnished with home-sized appliances!) Granite countertops, enough lighting for a surgical suite, breakfast bars make my "why bother" list too. I can live without the oversized two-car garage I had in my previous house, although I miss its convenience and not having to scrape ice off my car; our Model-T-sized garage is being torn down (too expensive to repair) and being replaced with a small garden shed because that's really all we NEED. What I can't (or rather wouldn't, I've done so when I had to) live without in the kitchen is a dishwasher, a microwave, enough electrical outlets (and the capacity to have both the toaster and coffeepot on at once without blowing a circuit), a fairly basic stove and fridge, sufficient storage for basics and a functional layout. In the bathroom I absolutely require a tub in which one can take a decent bath, an adequate hot water supply and water pressure, a reasonable level of lighting and ventilation, and perhaps more important than anything else, a really good toilet! When we were househunting I did not consider any houses with only a single toilet - after one household bout of food poisoning, I required 1.5 baths!

I think it bothers you because it’s basically empty. I like to have a bit of a “drop zone” by the door. Maybe a small drawer unit to the left of your door, to hold gloves, sunglasses, etc. believe it or not, I found a nice one for my daughter’s apartment at the Christmas Tree Store for maybe $40 (it might not be her forever furniture, but looks great and serves a purpose during her urban apartment years). If you would use it, a small wall mounted hook unit next to your closet could stash dog leashes, coats when visitors are there, etc. You could get a magnetic picture hanger and hang something on the back of your door (eg seasonal “door” artwork, a pretty calendar, or maybe even a mirror for last minute checkups on your way out the door). These things would all be functional, and distract you from the door hardware that bothers you.