Thank you all again for your feedback. I think we decided to go with tumbled travertine in a white/beige color for the backsplash instead of the brick. Couple questions: - For a small space would you recommend small brick shaped tiles, brick shape and size tiles, or square tiles? We don't want to do the real thin tiles. -We are thinking about square porcelain floor tiles, placed in a diamond shaped pattern because we understand that will make our small kitchen appear bigger. If we do a square tile backsplash would you place them in a diamond pattern as well to match the floor pattern? -We are thinking of a medium beige color floor...the floors we have are original to the house and have to go! We can't do wood because of the way the kitchen is laid out with the rest of the house where we already have wood. Thanks in advance!

Kitchen island and picture of one that I was considering painting (color)

I agree. Match or compliment the brick/fire box. Make this as seamless and unobtrusive as possible. That's the easiest way to prevent the eye from picking out "after thought" projects/fixes. Too bad you can't use the faux brick in this application. I would like to say "Koodos" for bring the fireplace up to code before listing. Not everyone would do that! What's the current flooring? Is that vinyl, laminate, engineered hardwood?

Ash being a light wood but can be hard to stain in a darker stain since it's such a dense wood - I would consider staining with Minwax English Chestnut # 233 add coats until it gets dark enough to match adjacent wood stain , also consider a very flat sealer ( such as tung oil or satin poly no shine is important against the flat finish of brick