Thank you everyone. I appreciate the help. I guess I was unclear about the what I wanted to paint. I love the bricks of the fireplace and wont touch them. What I would like to paint is the ledge or seat under the actual fireplace. It is made of cement with plaster finish (Only on top and sides) that has a marble look to it. It is cracked and worn in places. Plus the off white/maroon color scheme is very unattractive. My plan is to paint it a matte dark cement like color, close to the grout of the fireplace. I would love to enclose it in wood but I dont think that is unrealistic for our situation and the whole fire thing. I love the idea of plants that have been suggested. I will look into easy to care for plants that dont need alot of light. I do not have a green thumb and have difficulty keeping things alive that dont whine at me. As for the shelves, I really like them and do not want to be rid of them. I guess I was looking for suggestions of what shapes to put up there. Long and thin, short and round, oblong, several small items, etc? Also, brightly colored, neutral, metal, etc? That way I can go into my own collection and find something that fits the bill. Anyone know how the fireplace would be decorated when it was originally built? It also has a couple of nails in the grout (previous families stockings I assume) so hanging something is possible also. The windows seem to war with the shelves in my mind, the balance seems off. I have thought of painting them the same color as the brick, and also the color that I will paint the ledge. They are about 8-9" deep, so I worry painting them the same color as the brick will look odd. Currently they are painted the same color as the wall, a light gray. Would you put something on them, like a shelf? I am looking to make the whole thing seem cohesive. Luckily privacy is not an issue, it is on the second floor. And I want as much light as possible so not looking to add greenery out side. We do plan on replacing the plexiglass with clear window glass in the near future. In my mind it would look so much better as one long window but I dont think we will take on the project. Thanks again for your input. I look forward to hearing more ideas.

If you can remove the popcorn ceiling, it will make the ceilings look cleaner and newer. Since you have children, you need to be careful to not generate dust, to keep them from developing allergies or asthma. https://www.google.com/amp/s/pulse.seattlechildrens.org/the-dangers-of-home-renovation-keep-kids-safe-during-repairs/amp/ Caution: some popcorns ceilings contained asbestos. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.asbestos.com/blog/2018/07/24/asbestos-popcorn-ceiling-safe/amp/ The walls will have a better finish if you remove the wallpaper, scrub the walls to remove the adhesive (a wet roller mop works wonders) and then spray new texture to cover over where the adhesive was removed. Prime the walls and paint them in white flat paint. Then, using the same shade of white in a semi-gloss finish, put an extra coat of white on the woodwork (baseboards and doors). The screen between the dining room and hallway is non-structural. You can remove it but would have to patch the floor, ceiling and connection at the sidewall. Do everything white. If you don’t like the hallway, you can always find a way to rework it later with doors or cabinets. Sherwin Williams has 50 shades of white. You should be able to find a shade of white that is perfect for your home. They have a lightbox in the store that enables you to see the paint colors under different lighting conditions. Right now, they are having a 30% off sale: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/special-offers/digital-media

I love this bathroom discussion. I swear it’s our bathroom from when we were in college in a California duplex. We had geometric 50s wallpaper that had teal, pink, lavender, orange and silver in it. The cabinet was wood and looked just like yours. I’d sand and seal the cabinet and go after vintage wallpaper. We have never had a tub that matched that one for relaxed soaking. The other half of the duplex had green tile, full out lavender tub and beige floor tile. Haha. The only thing that really looks bad is that window. The frame looks pretty rough.

The painter says he can get a good even stain on it if he does a pre-stain conditioner. Your painter isn't a wood finisher. If he suggested usng Minwax and promised to get a 'good even stain' because he's using 'conditioner', then I know for sure he isn't a wood refinisher!! Does he even know anything about Maple? I've done all types of wood, stains, aniline dyes, etc. Maple is a very tight grain wood and difficult to get dark. I did one a long time ago in a walnut color, but the results were meh. (this was back in 2012 when I actually used Minwax products! I now know better) Anyway, here is a vintage maple hutch that I sanded down to raw wood, used the conditioner, and stained in a walnut. It was in pretty rough shape when I got it. took that surface all the way done to raw wood. Is this what your vanity wood looks like? I used a Dark Walnut on this coat, and then went over it again w/Jacobean to get this shade. Seal coat, steel wool to fine sand, and a few coats of poly. finished result: You see the blotchy spots? You saw what I started with. a pristine raw wood surface. I used the conditioner and stain correctly. Yet, the coloring is still a bit uneven. If you like this, fine. top coat result in natural light. shelves too. The maple always seems to get a little blotchy w/darker colors. it's just the nature of this species. If you wanted to stain, you should have picked a diff wood. Aniline Dye? it's water base and penetrates deeply into the wood grain. it comes in a powder form you mix w/hot water I had a solid oak french door I wanted black. black stain alone wasn't enough to get it really black so Here's what I started with. The dye 1-2 coats of dye, and it still wasn't black enough. the dye makes a good base for ebony stain You can see the deeper grain here in the oak and how the dye doesn't quite get all of it. Gel stain in Ebony did the trick. Then I sealed it all w/ebony Penofin oil. waterproofs it too. It's as black as can be. did the oak window trim too. see how deep the black looks? Do you think your painter knows about these 3 steps and all the products used? First off, lets see this wood vanity. you've posted one teeny tiny pic of some tile but are wanting advice on things we can't see? get a spare piece of wood like your vanity so you can practice on it. This painter just wasn't going to use the vanity w/o sampling, was he?