We wall papered our paneled room. I used a light straw color paper. The lines from the panel added texture. It looks phenomenal.

Also, rajiv r, If I were you, I'd replace that floor with tile.

Painting paneling is not for the faint of heart. It's really for a pro to do. You really need to prime it with BINS. That stuff smells to high heavens - you will have to leave every single window open and even then it will have kill you. Leave them open overnight as well. Then paint with a good semi-gloss paint.

I had this done in my daughter's study - used a paint that was quite similar in color to Farrow & Ball's "Lichen" but one shade lighter. It looks great!

I know you don’t want to paint the fireplace, and I hate it when other people suggest things the OP clearly said they don’t want to do...but yowza that FP is really going to be prominent when you lighten the walls! I’d paint the paneling an off-white, and keep an open mind about perhaps painting the FP. I think it would make a lovely, soothing backdrop for your furnishings and art if painted the same color as your new wall color.

I also suggest painting the paneling a soft, warm color like a cream or even Taupe Tease from Behr paints (it's the color of my house). After you have the paneling painted, you may want to rethink painting the FP bricks. We have that ugly red brick that was used on fireplaces in the 40's, when our house was built, and I'm going to paint the brick one of these days. We do not use the FP anyway.

rajiv, we painted over paneling in the family room of a previous home. I was skeptical but it turned out great. The painters used Swiss Coffee from Benjamin Moore. It turned out to be the perfect soft white with the lighting in that particular room. I do remember them doing quite a bit of prep work due to the paneling. That was probably one of the most pleasing paint jobs we've ever had done.

A bright white like your ceiling will probably look something like this:

I'd also replace those dinky shelves with a mantel that goes all the way across and replace the boob light, maybe with the Minka Aire Artemis fan. I'd do that before I'd paint the fireplace because, frankly, painting brick is a pain.

Paint can look good on brick. But if you like the brick (and I think it's a nice one), it would be better to spend the money on an extended mantle like what Grover mocked up. You can always paint the brick later if you decide you hate it-- but you can't un-paint it. So better to be sure.

Unfortunately your rustic fireplace does not at all go well with the elegant parquet, even apart from color considerations. Someone simply made a bad choice. You can consider whitewashing the fireplace rather than painting it, but painting should give you better coverage, which would be important in hiding the different colors of brick.

Rajiv, I use Photoshop.

You can also get a firescreen to fit the opening. I think it will greatly improve the look of the fireplace.

NO to painting the fireplace. Look at it. See how deep the mortar joints are? Those joints will always be dark because they are recessed, so you will end up with a checkerboard grid that looks awful.

Plus, it will be very tedious to paint those joints.

Plus, plus, the joints are simply dust catchers.

If you had normal joints, it would be different--you'd have a subtle variation in texture. This will look like a huge mistake. See the difference in this photo.

Finally: That paneling is surely applied over wallboard. It probably pops off with little trouble leaving wallboard with a few small holes in it from the short paneling nails. Easy to patch and will look better than painted paneling (which, IMHO, is a very mobile home look).

Painted brick looks flat and unreal, to my eyes, anyway. However, a paint wash put on is easy to do, and you follow along wiping it with a rag. It keeps a more realistic brick look, and I think it looks much better than a solid paint job on brick.

You have a few days to bring paint samples into the space which you should do ASAP! This article or any by Maria Killam are great when selecting paint. You have some saying ‘cream’ some saying ‘white’ so be prepared for a million options. I am a fan of SW Shoji white in a lot of instances but it may look dingy any dirty in your space w your lighting. I still say avoid creams with your yellow floor but samples will be the truth teller

That floor is HD cheap parquet not worth keeping IMO. As for painting the panels a nice off white would be a good choice or a really pale sage green depends on your furnishings too. There are acrylic primers I am sure that can work. It takes a lot of prep to paint this stuff. TSP to clean , then sanding to make sure there is no oily residue, I would just replace with drywall .