Does that door cover a woodbox? I'd open it and stack attractive wood in there. What is that to the left of your fireplace? A closet? Make sure that is covered and painted the same color as the right.

I'd paint the brick white and put a big, chunky wood mantel board on there. A simple one. Assuming your home is mid century?

It is a wood box, but it's been closed off on the backside when the fireplace was converted to gas. The left side is a huge cabinet. My husband would like to keep it to store his hunting equipment.

The house was built in 1960, but there's nothing mid century about it. It's a two story, traditional.

Yes, so just put doors on it and be sure to paint it the same color as the wall on the other side.

Not sure what to say about the woodbox. They should have left it. Stinkers.

If you don't have young children like I do, you could lean something cool up against that woodbox. Like a mirror or art that would not be affected by the heat. That should help bring some balance there. I would love to see what you do with this.

There are lots of cool asymmetrical fireplaces out there. Start an ideabook of them, if you haven't already.

Our taste is definitely more traditional. We're trying to figure out a way to give the fireplace a more traditional look without ripping the entire thing out! The kitchen is going to look similar to this...minus the alcove ceiling and chandalier.

groveraxle - could you paint my fireplace white and add shelving on the left? Wish I knew how to do that! :)

I would never paint brick. It's neutral and you'll never get the paint off. If not prepped right, paint won't adhere well. Coverthe brick with a different surface or paint the mantel.

We were thinking of resurfacing the brick with a stacked stone, but I'm game for anything that will make it look more up to date.

tdemonti,,,there are many different things you can paint brick with, but all must have clean bricks. that goes without saying.

so they would need to be wiped or scrubbed, let dry. then use a paint made for brick. masonry paint. (but being indoor it's really not a big deal to use an acrylic paint). Rombaio has some, Chalk paint, milk paint, are all viable alternatives.

It's old red brick, not particularly nice looking. if you guys like it, then keep it. But painting it will bring in an update.

taking off on grover's mock up, you could do any type of wood plank. you could fir out the top portion and cover that w/planks and just paint the lower portion

this is 'firring'

you could take out that 'closet' and do a built in bench with a cute pendant light overhead.

embrace the off-set and run a mantel all the way across, find some items for the hearth

this is one of my favorite looks. paint yours white, and do a mantel like this

you could carry the brick over to the left, or use the wood slat design on it, the bench, or just close it up.

your brick would look like this if painted white

you could also finish the inside and do some floating shelves

or do something like this

here's a similar style to yours and what they did w/the hole in the wall

Beth H. - Love the idea of the bench and pendant light. The stacked stone fireplace you pinned is exactly the fireplace we had in mind!! Thank you for the great ideas! I love them!

Weathy - The garage is on the other side, but it is something that could be done as the wood box has an access from the garage (that has been boarded up). I'll have to toss that idea at my husband and see what he thinks. Not sure he would want to store his guns in a cabinet that has access in the garage, but he can store them in our bomb shelter! Yes, we have one in the basement. Lol.

Fireplace white, shelves on left:

What is behind the wall on the left is it exterior? I would build out the closet wall to extend as far as the right side. Then you would have a nice deep closet and actual add storage.

If you want to cover the fireplace do so I think that would be better than painting it.

Yes, it is an exterior wall. The cabinet is 30" wide x 36" deep x 84" high. We thought about putting a Murphy door with shelving and making it a hidden storage closet.

With a Murphy door:

groveraxle - Thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to do that mock-up with the Murphy door. I am a very visual person!! This helps a lot.

If you are not able to excavate the wood bin, you might look for an antique summer cover to replace the wood door that's there now. I found this one on eBay.

my question is how do you balance that dark bookcase with the other side? Would a lighter color be better?

Before the demolition started, the entire room was paneled. There was wood everywhere! I guess the wall on the right that was paneled balanced out the doors that were on the left cabinet, wood box and old mantel. We have replaced all the wood in the rest of the house with white doors and mouldings and all the walls are painted a light color. All the carpet in the bedrooms, bathrooms, hallways, entry ways, living room, & dining room (literally wall-to-wall carpet) has been replaced with a medium stained hardwood floor and porcelain tile. The great room is going to have the same hardwood floors and the kitchen cabinets will be white.

I would rather see a wash on the fireplace than it painted a solid white. To me, the solid colors take on a plastic artificial look, while the wash, shows that it is really a brick fireplace.