I'd paint it a dark charcoal gray to go coordinate with your counters and cover up those knots in the pine. Get a painter to prime it really well so you get better coverage. Then for staging purposes, find a nice framed piece of art to hang above the FP unit. Good luck!

Is there any gray in the bricks? If so, I would paint it dark gray as previous poster suggested. Inspiration pics- the wood is a similar/complementary color to the brick.

I would also paint it gray. But I would paint your brick wall white to make it pop out. Also I would hang something over it.

The two materials together are busy, busy. For a quick refresh, you could whitewash the brick and paint the wood to match your wall color. I'd try to get the top trim the same across the whole wall first. Also, I don't understand the track lighting.

Ebonize the wood. Stain it black.

HI -- There is two much texture and busy pattern with the brick going one way and the wood going another ...it's cluttered and dark looking . If the wood can be removed then do that and replace with drywall and or tile that in the same direction as the bricks , on the horizontal. I would paint that whole wall one color like the wall color . Then the texture speaks for itself . You say you don't want to spend too much so a live edge shelf/mantel would be very expensive . So basically you just need to simplify the look of that whole wall so it blends into the room and looks more modern .

It looks like you have old recycled brick, I would leave it alone. I like the wood surround stained gray.