I’d do white if your open to whitewashing some. ( just some :) of the brick. Otherwise I’d do a different color.
Blue? Black even? Deep wood? Loveeee the arch!!

What do you by "I want to replace"? Take the shelves out? You could take them out and hang art on the left and leave TV side with just the TV.

I would go darker with shelving on either side of brick. I really like the brick and fireplace and insert. All the rage in British Country decor right now. You could redo the two side shelves,and paint a darker sage gray green or gray blue, and add a wood mantel and a large statement ceiling light. Make it more like a British country home. Having said that I have no idea what the rest of your house looks like style wise. I see so much potential easy fixes.

Also add some molding at ceiling. Take the whole room darker and more traditional with paint.

Hi! Me again 🙄 if you want to keep existing shelving just add molding at ceiling to finish room and paint darker. Replace white mantel strip with something stained wood. Not painted. And restyle shelves with books.

Such a pretty fireplace and room. What about a lighter color wallpaper in the back of the shelves?

I feel like the only thing that's not quite right is how dark the background is. Also, could see about adding lighting in the shelves... so easy nowadays and kicks it up a notch:)

P.S. Did I mention I just love the whole fireplace/hearth brick and setup. Very nice!

Thanks! I love the fireplace/hearth too! For context, this is the whole room - As you can see, this room is open to the horribly 80's oak kitchen which I'm planning to remodel this summer to be white with a slate blue island in a more traditional French country style, so I thought to try to help the family room while I was at it...

i think the entire wall would look much more handsome if you covered the open shelving with doors and painted everything near-black charcoal. Remove the white board from fireplace and if it can’t be removed, paint that charcoal. If you worry that the charcoal won’t go with your existing wall color, another possibility would be to paint the cabinetry a deep sugar cookie color. Or think about a French gray, which might go well with your curtains and how you envision your kitchen renovations.

If you use the might right-side empty space for a TV, get doors that can be opened but that slide back into the cabinet .

If you really are attached to displaying your ceramics, take the doors off the lowest right section of the cabinetry and display them there.

If you think you want to head toward French Country, you might want to post some pictures of what you're leaning towards. So many different interpretations of various styles...

I would take out the built ins. Add a substantial.mantle either like this or old reclaimed wood

Lovely fireplace! Painting the cabinet darker would be lovely, maybe a slightly darker version of the blue in your China cabinet in dining room? Seeing as you have the blue chairs in the kitchen seating area, something in that family. Is that seating area the feeling of French country you want the kitchen to be? It seems like you have more space in the family room seating area, have you considered a sectional? Or at least pushing the sofa back and adding a chair where that small table on the right is or adding two chairs? Also if keeping the tan rug, maybe just add a full size rug over to help expand and open the seating area instead of the small one currently there. Could help add a sense of color and really help elevate and pull the room together. I wouldn't add moulding to the top of built-in unless you are adding it throughout, as you don't have mouldings anywhere else. I would also raise your curtain rod and add curtains that tie in to your new color you've chosen to paint the cabinets, also in a different style, curtains not sheers. Also, overall you might want to fully update the paint color between the two rooms. I would take down the curtains in the kitchen even before you remodel. After remodeling either continue to leave bare or do a simple shade. Also, what is the cabinet in the middle of the walkway between kitchen and family room? I'm assuming storage issues will be addressed when you remodel your kitchen?
So much potential! Good luck on your renovations!

Or you could flip sofa to window wall and add chairs to opposite wall. Shelving in blue color?
Also, would change mantel to wood with a thicker profile.

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It’s true that the French countryside covers an awful lot of territory, style-wise. There is a point, however, where it curiously meets up with American colonial style and it gets easy to mix their elements together

I would leave as much of the brick as possible exposed in your fireplace, but this is a look I would go for

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In your room you might try taking the small rug that is in front the sofa and putting it somewhat under the console-bookcase behind the sofa. For the moment, try moving your easel + elephant to the right side of the fireplace, move the ceramics down to lower shelves, or the floor. Get the elephant on the other side of the fireplace and bring him over to be with his friend.

I would take the framed bicycle piece and have it exchange places with most of the items on the left side of the cabinet. Bring over the globe, the blue box, and the decorative books to the console table at the back of the sofa, and use the bicycle print to partially cover the shelves over there. I would also take the airplane down from the mantle and prop that up behind the sofa on the console table, with the globe and the books and the lamp — or hang it from the top of the console to cover the top shelf of the bookcase. Take the candles off the console table.

I think white is the most suitable color for your blue background. However, both of them seem not match to the fireplace much. If you change color of the book shelf, it's necessary for you to change the color of the wall as well to match with the fireplace.

I agree with jck910 about taking the shelves out. Would also consider removing the shelf above fireplace. To me the shelves and decor is taking the attention away from the wonderful brick. Just my opinion.