I like your current fireplace much more than the one pictured below it! The texture of the "bricks" in the second seems a bit odd, also am not crazy about the white grout. I especially like the soft colors of the rocks/stones in the one you have now.

Stones are naturally beautiful. Paint would take the beauty away..

I've read that river rock doesn't take paint well. I've no experience myself. But I would google about it particularly about cleaning and preparing the rock and grout for paint.

I've seen a particular paint mentioned here several times as the best for painting stone and masonry - perhaps a search will bring it up, but I can't remember. I would think masonry paint, but I also see ordinary latex mentioned a lot.

I'm with you, I think the river rock and wide bands of mortar are not attractive at all. I am not sure painting will help much - I'd be more inclined to cover the stone up with wood or stone tiles.

I would leave the stone alone. Your fireplace is much nicer than the one in your inspiration picture. I really dislike the white grout especially in the inspiration picture.

I like the stone fireplace natural. I think the stone tile color looks out of place, so I would replace that.

I've never seen a painted river rock fireplace. Is your rock real or faux? I think for me it would depend on the style of your house. Here are a couple...doesn't look as bad as I imagined; I don't know if I prefer your original:

I think I would start by concentrating more on filling in those deep mortar joints by doing an over grout technique (using a grout that blends in as opposed to a contrasting color).

Some examples of an over grout technique.

nidnay, that's a brilliant idea. It would retain the beauty of the stones while giving a less rustic look. You could always paint the stones after if you really wanted to, but I think filling in the grout will transform the feel of the fireplace. Think about covering the row bottom row of stones with the same tiles as the hearth. Someone could probably photoshop the changes to see before implementing .

I agree with Nidnay. It will flatten out the depth and soften the edges. Looks like it would also blend the colors together. If you're longing for a color change, have you thought about updating the hearth stone? You could swap those out for a dark grey slate or stone that matches some of your darker rocks.

Thank you all for advice ! After thinking it over , I’ve decided to perhaps just paint the few red stones a darker or medium grey as well as do a concrete hearth .