Thanks again for your feedback and input everyone! Olychick, I'm thinking color everything, though on the fence about trim (dark vs light). I imagine we could start by painting the body of the house first, see how it looks, then proceed with the trim. I agree that the dark trim helps blend the bow/bay windows. Very light paint with dark trim works also but would rather avoid too light of a main color. Just personal preference. Cmarlin20, we like contemporary and aren't particularly attached to the current look of the house. I think we're just afraid to commit to painting the brick as it'd be more-or-less permanent. But so far painting or removing the brick seems the way to go.

Make sure the flu is cleaned so that the smoke doesn't come into the home before you do this project. You'll have to use a strong cleaner like Scrubbing Bubbles to get the smoke stain off the stones before you stain them. You can stain the stone using diluted Chalk Paints.

Hi again Keri, My neck hurts just looking at the picture of your tv. What you might consider if there is enough room is getting a cabinet where the tv can be mounting inside and a remote brings it up into the open for view. I saw the construction of such a cabinet on youtube at one point but don't have the link. I have one that I bought used sitting in my garage but it has more cabinets with it and is fairly large. It's the same idea though.

Gosh, that firescreen is EVERYTHING. So pretty. I understand you not liking the tiles as much. There are definitely options that could stay in keeping with the style of the screen and fireplace. Here are a few options and as others have pointed out above, if you search some Arts and Crafts style tiles you'll find plenty of inspiration. My mind immediately thought of green. If you want tile there are lots of choices but you consider something like a soapstone or granite etc. Gorgeous colours in this one - it would make a nice border and then fill in with plain coloured otherwise. I think this is so lovely. Gorgeous colour and design. This one too. So beautiful and classic. You could have a look at some hand made tiles - have a look at Cle tiles for some options that would also look nice in your space. I'd contact a local metal shop and get a recommendation for who could look at the screen. Or if there is an architectural salvage shop they will likely have contacts for that type of thing. Please do come back and post after photos so we can see the results.