I looked again at the entire room, last comment I was focusing on the fireplace, as I had never seen a black fireplace before and it was so bold. I love it. You did an amazing job with the light colour flooring, the black window blind, black couch, light walls, pillows match your flooring, everything gels beautifully. You really changed the look of the room completely. It is very upscale and modern in comparison to the before pic. It is budget friendly too. Also love your kitty, lol!

mdln Your fireplace looks great. MagdalenaLee Great photoshop. Thanks so much. It is exactly what I want it to look like, except for the color. I am wanting a light gray. Hoping to put black marble on top of the hearth someday. Almost found what I needed at Habitat restore the other day, except it was 1 inch to short. Depth was perfect. I already have a black throw to put on the chair. Most the time it is off, because, the little ones love to sit in there, and it usually ends up on the floor. GreenHavenGarden Your fireplace looks really nice. Hope you enjoy it a lot. Annie, I have looked at the Dye brick site, and it is in consideration to find a stain rather than a paint. I didnt see any gray on the site, but, a friend told me that concrete stain would work the same way and it can be bought at Home Depot, so next time, I am in the city, will check that out too. nosoccermom, I did look over that link. Not seeing much with walnut stained trim. I do not want to paint this trim. I have painted every square inch of trim, in this house except the kitchen, and dining room, since they were the only ones that were still original. When we bought the house the rest of the trim was all painted white. I dislike white trim a lot, so it had to go almost immediately. I find it all a bit sad, that when we moved here, there was a 24 inch doorway to the 12x20 ft living room (small compared to all other rooms in this house), off the kitchen, but, the original owners had the stone mason put in a 7 ft long stone FAKE fireplace in the living room that matched the stone on the house. It had a very pretty well done mantle too. Attached to it, was an 8 ft long cabinet, that was also well done. There is another door on the opposite side of the living room to the back hallway, and double doors for a closet, and the front door, plus a large picture window with side windows, so there was absolutely no place for furniture, so for almost 5 yrs, all my living room furniture was just piled in there gathering dust, and the door was shut, and no way to use it. Last year, grandson in law, tore out both the fake fireplace and the cabinet, and closed up the 24 inch doorway, and put a new doorway on the dining room side that is 4 ft wide. I now have room for my couch and chairs, and my big oriental cabinets, and tv. The sad part is that they put so much thought into the fake stone fireplace, and no thought at all to the ugly brick one in the dining room. Oh and for those of you still reading this, I did spend most of the morning today out in the shop (nice cool morning) and I have the new top for the built in on the left all cut, except for 2 notches, and I do have a new mantle top all cut, and ready for sanding. I havent decided yet, just how much I want to add to the mantle, and of course, cant put it on until I decide what to do with the fireplace. Thanks all for your time, and your ideas. :-))

purrus - very very very nice! I also like all the neutral tones in the room. well done. scoutfinch - I first primed with BM All Purpose Fresh Start primer and then 2 coats of BM Aura 'Black' in eggshell finish. I don't use my F/P so heat-resistant issues didn't cross my mind, but something for you to check on if you do. Black heat-resistant paint should be easy to get, because it is available for gas grills. Personally, I don't think it would be necessary, but who knows. jamies - it is not hard at all to add a little faux texture to your bricks yourself. I think you would get a big improvement. you can go lighter or darker or even stay close to the existing color. You can just do a touch or go heavy. Its so flexible and so easy. Just be very random (in a controlled sort of way). Maintain the grout lines. I think in my link above, I described how I did mine.

Rachel - thank you - you shared great photos - I will post pictures next week after the walls and trim are painted in Dove White. I really like that black paint idea on fireplace- such a bold move but I love the white fireplaces you show which seem safer. Black happens to be in the wallpaper I am currently hanging in the foyer today. Pics attached. Changing trim and walls white all over the house is a huge transformation from my dingy dark trim and walls and I am creating a monster that is snowballing. The dining room rug looks horrible with my wallpaper so I am now in search of a new rug there and one for the family room and now I need new furniture in there as well. Suggestions are welcome from anyone - It is painted Dove white and you can see the new foyer paper with the new blue study. What about a blue or green velvet sofa with all white room. I have 2 cats and someone said that they are not as attracted to velvet. I am not painting the built-ins around fireplace just yet because I have not picked out kitchen cabinets. Maybe I can have the built-ins sprayed white or the blue??? I could also try to change the trim or molding to make them more modern and even wonder if wood shelves would look good to match my dream beams. Ripping out the built-ins and replacing will be costly unless I find some cool furniture pieces to go there. I will also hold off on the painting the fireplace so I can see what the brick looks with an all white room. My painters love me and they come back every two weeks for my next Phase of renovation. : )