Nice room. That hearth looks like a stumble hazard. Do forewarn your guests, especially any elderly guests. Consider painting the metal staircase black and it will go well with any color you choose and the hearth as well. A neutral wall color that would go with the brick that is not gray could be Sahara Desert Sand or something similar -- a tan without a pink or yellow hue. You might consider a full window length swag valance for your window -- choose "natural" for your color. https://windowtoppers.com/collections/kitchen-curtains-and-valances/products/roslyn-3-piece-tailored-country-swags-filler-valance-window-curtains-set-with-banded-edge?variant=46144210566 Edit to add: while I was looking for a link for the swag for the window, two people beat me to it. Yes to black stairs.

You could try dyebrick.com. It is brick/masonry stain. Try on a sample of similar color brick first, though; it only comes off with a powerwash! Assuming of course that you want to keep it....you could also remove the brick and replace with something different. We have done that before, it was very messy but not difficult. If you decide to do that, do it Before you move furniture into the room...

You could paint your fireplace, but it looks like you like orange (pillows). I would get some new artwork for over the fireplace with orange in it. Then I think I would paint the shelves white...(You have white in the kitchen) with back of them the wall color like you have now. Then I would hang some white sheers on the lower windows to soften things up.. If it still looks dark, then I would paint the fireplace or retile it with the tile you have on your kitchen backsplash if possible.

More background about the remodeling project. The living room is a sunken living room and we are raising it to level with the dining room etc. We need to raise it about 8 inches. This fireplace is in the sunken living room. Since the fireplace has a layer of brick that is raised right now and we are going to make the fireplace flush with the new hardwood flooring, we will be raising the fireplace up for about 5.5 inches (8inches - thickness of the one layer brick + thickness of hardwood flooring that will be installed). It is about the thickness of 2 layers of normal red brick and a little more than one layer of the brick that is inside of the fireplace. After raising the fireplace, the opening of the fireplace dimension will be about 24 inch tall * 36 inches wide. Will it look OK? If it is still a “normal” size opening for the fireplace, I tend to want to keep the wood burning fireplace as I can paint it white and it is still functional.