Put in new built ins. I would have justbpainted the existing ones and not had the issue.

I have to agree with Sophie, I would have painted the built ins, or left them the way they were. It was so much prettier the way it was, than what it looks like now.

Painting would have been better, but that's no help here.

Kelly, did you save any of the wood from the built-ins? Maybe apply a skinny piece against the sides to hide the rough brick.

I would remove the mantle and replace with a nicer one (in whatever style you prefer). With regard to the brick, I would just use a piece of quarter round trim against the wall and brick 90 degree angle to finish it. No one is going to be able to see the brick sides and if they can, once you decorate, you won't notice it.

Thanks Cor for a helpful comment. :) I figured we wouldn't notice it much either but there are usually some pretty good ideas on here that I wouldn't have otherwise thought of.

I was waiting for the Built In Brigade to come out in force and they did not disappoint! :) Obviously, we went to the trouble of ripping them out because we thought they were dated and they don't fit our decorating style. I'm thrilled to have the 'issue' of figuring out where to go from here! This room gets very little natural light and needs lights on even in broad daylight. The overwhelming amount of wood (We have all stained wood trim throughout the home, which I love.) It really sucked the life out of it. We lived with them for 5 years and were never able to come to like them - not just the look but the way they limited furniture arrangement. (And we're not alone - all of our neighbors who have the same ugly built ins are ready to rip theirs out now too after seeing the way it opened up the room - score for the anti-built-in crowd! lol) So when we sell the house in 15-20 years someone else can put them back in if they love them. :)

Removing the existing mantel and replacing it, even with just a 2"x6" board, is likely going to be more practical than having a carpenter/cabinet maker try to match the aged finish w/new ends.

You could add mortar between the brick and the wall.

Alternately, you could add vertical support on each side of the fireplace to cover that crack between brick and wall and have your new mantel be wider than the original in order for it to overlap the vertical supports.

If your window and door trim in this room is white, you could paint your new mantel and its vertical supports white as well for the lighter look you seek for this room.

If you want a more traditional look, you will probably get a better look if you use a narrow board beside the brick (with its wider side against the ends of the brick) and affix a wider board in front of both that narrow board and part of the brick to create your fireplace surround.

Alternately, you could go for a bolder look (upper left pic):

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/207728601543366287/?lp=true

If the built ins are, in any way, still intact, and if you are not planning to repurpose them, consider donating them to a Habitat for Humanity restore store.

You could knock down the excess mortar and try stucco if you want to avoid wood trim. It doesn't sound like you are a fan of the brick.

Yeh, those built-ins were ugly. No amount of paint woulda' fixed that.

Since you say the room is dark, why are the walls green?

Are those packages of new flooring that I see in the first photo?

If so, I would tackle the fireplace remodel now before the flooring goes down. Knock the brick out of there; rebuild a raised hearth out of plywood & backer board and tile around the fireplace and the hearth. IF DIY, that's the least expensive real fix that I can think of. For a contemporary look, you don't really even need a mantle.

Suggested tile because it's (or can be) budget friendly.

About the hearth, I was suggesting that you remove all the brick and built a new framed hearth to accept tile.

I have a big lovely stone fireplace. Cleaning the stone is a PITA. Tile would be so much easier to clean and keep clean.

Haven't built a fire in the fireplace in over five years, maybe longer. I almost wish the fireplace was gone. Probably would be except there's a brick chimney that goes through the garage roof and up the side of the house.

The room is really coming along nicely! Looks better already!

I like the idea of a very pale gray wash over the brick; I think that would look really pretty with the wall color and light floors. If you keep the shade light enough--like, almost a whitewash--it shouldn't be too dark. Maybe whitewash first, then graywash, so the gray isn't fighting with the tan?

IMO it's that tan color of the brick and the mantel that are making the wall color look so bright, at least in part. That kind of blue definitely needs either dark browns or grays and whites to bring out its full potential (again, IMO). And as for the mantel...I wonder if you could just attach better wood, in the right shade, to it? I mean, obviously look into how to do it properly, but were it me I'd just build a box for it out of plywood, tall trim/molding, or the gray shiplap they sell at my local HD, slide it on, and use glue/screws/nails to attach it. Then you won't have the hollow ends, either.

Oh, and I agree, I'd buy a few feet of molding and use it to cover the gaps between wall and brick (placed so the design faces out, perpendicular to the brick); maybe not a permanent solution, but it'll take care of it in the short term and might look nice.

Best of luck! I normally love built-ins--I've always wanted some--but I agree those needed to go, they're ugly and seem oddly impractical.

I love that you used a more saturated color in a dark room. You need light to perceive color. When you use subtle colors in a dark room they get gray and muddy. Your color is perfect. It looks like a smaller size room and built ins were big and heavy and overpowering for the space. You did the right thing. I think the brick looks good with the wall color. Do you have wood trim throughout the house or white? With rich colors I love the pop of white trim and think a white mantle would add something to the fireplace.

If you have beautiful wood throughout the home keep it! Treasure It! Most newer homes have inexpensive wood and it is painted because it is not really nice wood. The older homes have gone through all the trends where people painted them white and few have had the wear with all to strip every door and window and piece of trim throughout the house to restore it to it's original beauty. You are right - it is rare and becoming more and more rare.

If the baseboards aren't as nice as your other woodwork try to stain it so that the color matches the doors and window frames. No one will notice the grain on the baseboards unless they are pointed out.

For the mantle I love your idea of using a barn beam or weathered/distressed piece of wood.

It looks to me that the top three bricks are the ones that need fixed the most....a suggestion, remove those bricks and put your mantle down lower. That will take care of the ones that need fixed. After you cap the ends of the mantle, (or get a new one) see what the rest of the brick -to- wall looks like. May need quarter round but may not. I am thinking too that if your room is dark, a lighter paint would help but if you have light furniture, it will look good.

What it needs is to be capped with some larger bricks that will extend back to the wall and stick a little proud of the existing.

Problem with that is that the top two rows are cantilevered out from the wall and the brickwork is already too massive in scale for the room. Adding brick will make it even bigger.

Because of the cantilevered bricks, any replacement solid beam mantle needs to be anchored to the wall in such a way that it doesn't rely on the bricks to hold it up. Wasn't a problem with the relatively light weight hollow 'beam' that the built-ins helped to stabilize.

Great minds think alike, I guess, grover. ;)

Kelly:

Before doing anything, find out what clearance to combustibles is required around the firebox opening. If you need help with that, don’t hesitate to ask. :)

Also, you might be able to get decent looking sides by grinding off/out the excess mortar.

You can see the rest of this fireplace makeover here.

The German smear is an interesting idea... painting white is out, the husband hates the look of painted brick. (I've convinced him though that some of the washes aren't bad. I really like the way the different shades of brick still come through vs everything just being one color in this one. But it think its too dark for this room, especially with darker floors...

I do not like built ins flanking FP b/c I see the doo dads as distracting from FP being focus. Perhaps you could panel like this for minor architectural interest.

I think we are all moving in the same direction! I don't care for paneling above (although with it being white it's not bad!) What about something like this to cover up some of the brick?

This might help:

Most codes specify mantel distance from the firebox itself. As a general rule, a mantel is placed about 12 inches above the fireplace opening. Add an inch to the distance for every inch that the mantel protrudes. So, a mantel 6 inches deep would be attached 18 inches above the firebox opening.

A recent poster just painted her own fireplace.

Before

after

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/should-i-take-the-chance-to-whitewash-fireplace-pics-included-dsvw-vd~5324299

Thanks Ci_lantro for the code info! I looked up our local code and it's only 6 inches from the firebox for mantels and trim and combustible materials within 12 inches can only protrude an 1/8" for every inch away from the firebox. We have appx 22" of space now. Good info to have it we plan on putting the trim around it.

We peeked behind to see where the drywall ends. We could take out the first row of brick but there is no drywall after that - and my drywall skills aren't such that I want to get into that mess (or pay someone to do it).

Thanks everyone for the ideas. We have plans in the next week with a friend in the fireplace business and a family member familiar with the code so we'll pick their brains with some of these ideas!

We could take out the first row of brick but there is no drywall after that - and my drywall skills aren't such that I want to get into that mess (or pay someone to do it).

Keep in mind that the new mantle will cover the drywall void/ drywall fill-in. The patch will be behind the mantle piece so long as the mantle is at least as thick as one brick. If the mantle isn't quite thick enough then there's always trim to cover. Say cove mould?

I agree with German Schmear or a “messy” mortar application. I think the room looks so much better without the built ins!