I would use the marble you have in mind all around the fireplace and just float a ledge mantel above it, as someone suggested above if you must have one. However, I think it would look better without a mantel and just let the beauty of the marble be your decorative statement and element. I cannot tell how high your ceiling is from the photo, but would be inclined to run the marble up to the ceiling. If you don't like that look, You should go at least as far above the FP box as you will below to the floor with the marble. Unfortunately, it looks as though your builders put the electrical switch and outlet (on the right hand side) just in far enough towards the FP so that you can't extend the marble tile to the right as far as to the left (end of that wall). I'd ask the electrician to move those things before you start tiling.

Ha ha, nothin' like being paged! Almost makes me feel popular :-) I'm sorry I missed your request earlier. My mantel is from Brees Mantels out of Greenville SC. I do like it a lot- everyone who comes over almost always comments on it, but I don't like the disparity with the stone on the other side- so that's why I would do something different. It has presence at over 6' tall. I would think there are local mantel people who do the same thing where you are, most likely.

Personally, I would remove it, but if you want some type of hearth consider a solid slab that sits within the two vertical columns. Check the pics below for visuals. Also, post on the Home Decor forum for more input. Here is a link that might be useful: [hearths[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/fireplace-without-hearth-phbr0lbl-bl~l_45267)

First, wamot, I'm sorry you're having to go through this. It's the nightmare we all have while planning and going thru a reno. I'm mostly putting this here for others who might find this thread down the line. I know that the GCs and KDs at each store are unique and that becomes part of the puzzle that we have to untangle as we make our decisions. We first went to Lowe's and had them measure (paid) and do a design. There were some things they wanted to do that we thought were excessive (possibly in the wake of the violations that lucille posted) and I felt that the 'designer' was more of a sales person. I think he might have been handing things off to another designer to do. I never once saw him in the design software. We REALLY liked the GC and tried to make it work because we wanted to work with him. But we decided to check out HD. A friend had HD do their kitchen last year, so they also had the recommendation thing going for them. We had measurements from Lowe's, but we had HD come out to measure to protect ourselves ($49 in the midst of this was a bargain, even though we'd already had to eat $91 for Lowe's to measure). The hard part for us was every step with HD took two times longer. There wasn't such a tight arrangement between GC and store. We had to wait longer at each step, and as such, while I was hoping our cabinets would be here next week or so but we're looking about another month out past that. The big reason I'm posting this here is that we were told the GC would come to measure and his wife did. I was not here, MIL was here and remarked what a thorough job she did and how impressed she was. The measurements went from GCs wife to KD. She tweaked the rough design we had based on my measurements to what the GC provided. She was off in four places. FOUR! So that led to a whole round of 'How are you putting that there, that won't fit?' because I knew pretty much all the measurements by heart. I remeasured most things, confirming my measurements with Lowes' measurements. We tweaked the plan for the 3rd or so time and the GC revisited to confirm everything was good. I'm pretty sure THAT's the point that they're responsible up to. After that, I did some switching of things. I did things like move to a 36x33 Susan to gain 3" more in trash pullout to get two cans and make a base and wall into a tall to create a transition from an area that will have a backsplash (interior wall) to an area that will have masonry behind it (exterior wall). Since no floor measurements will change, I should be good. My KD at HD is very good, but she let me know she was a little intimidated by me (and often regrets giving me an old spec book). And more related to the OP's issue, as I was deciding whether to make the jump to HD from Lowe's, I did some reading. I wish I could remember what I googled, but I read that if you want your kitchen done on time, don't use Lowe's. But if you want to save some money in the end, do. They're known for delaying things for many reasons (misordering, not organizing installs well) BUT the flip side is that there are non-performance clauses in their contracts and so you often get $ off per day for each day certain things are delayed. I'd look things over and see if you can find anything like what I'm remembering. I was concerned with Lowe's because they wanted us to pay for everything (all materials and all labor) up front and when I balked that I watched too much People's Court to pay contracting things up front...they have no incentive to finish, I was told there were non-performace clauses (just as I'd read on the internet). Whatever I googled, I also came across a forum with current and former Lowe's employee's posting about changes to the structure of the way they work with outside contractors etc. It was all very interesting. Good luck. If you end up doing away with the fillers, make sure that at least you don't get charged for what will become 'extra pieces you don't need'.