Fireplace how can I improve this?

[MadameMayberry]

Hi. We are repainting the walls and changing carpet soon. Both will be neutral colours. Any suggestions on what I should do to improve the appearance of this fireplace? Don't want to do loads of work. House is from the 80s so not a period property. Thank you!

You can cover the tiles with a new stone hearth.

Not quite sure about the bricks! Render them like you would a harled house and then paint a very neutral colour on the outside and very dark colour on the inside, leaving the mantel as it is?

We used to have a fireplace very similar to that, in a 80s house with no chimney breast.
We removed it, it was fairly easy to do, just got a plasterer to cover the hole it left in the wall.
It has made the room more useable as it gave us a long empty wall to put furniture against so we could change things around.
The big difference is that we did it just before replacing the old carpet so the concrete floor under the hearth tiles got covered by the new carpet - it is a more difficult if you are going to be left with a gap in the flooring to fill.

You could do a paint wash over them, or just paint them. Lots of people use French Chic paint to paint over bricks and it can look really nice.

Paint bricks, agree that a new hearth would look nicer than painting the tiles.
Can you remove wooden mantel and maybe strip it back to more of a pale oak colour?

Sort the hearth out before doing the carpet.
Go to a stone merchant and see what they have as remnants and offcuts

Honestly? I’d remove it.

I'd get a new hearth in a lighter stone, then strip and/or re-paint the mantel in a lighter colour. I'd perhaps leave the bricks as is, as it'll be hassle to change, and brick fireplaces will be back in fashion before you know it

Do you use it? If not take it out!

If you do use it, have a look at the log burner style fires that use liquid instead of logs, cheap don’t need installation, blasts heat and just needs a concrete base - can’t remember what they’re call but look a lot better than that!

I'd remove it.

www.stovesareus.co.uk/henley-dalewood-landscape-bio-ethanol-stove.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiA3-yQBhD3ARIsAHuHT64DRk5K4ca7U8pAKbN__imkB0-yhmmC_3xW5uOD62aPRK9fUOiA3JEaAqn_EALw_wcB

This sort of thing

Definitely remove it if you are changing the carpet soon.

If you don't want to do loads of work I'd just paint the bricks off white and paint the wooden mantel a similar colour.

What is it specifically you don’t like about it that you want to improve OP? The exposed brick seems very fitting in an 80s property and personally I’d keep that aspect untouched. It’s an original feature, cherish it.

When you say “neutral colours” what do you mean by that? Beige (warm)? Grey (cool)? Can you pick one of the lighter tones from the brickwork/grout(?) and base your colour choice from that, so it all works well together.

For me the main thing I think will be the tiles, as they are a strong/deep colour, they will draw a lot of focus if everything else in the room is very quiet colour-wise. I think the suggestion of a stone hearth is quite clever. Neutral and will calm down the whole appearance.

I’d also suggest painting the skirting and windowsills the same colour you paint the wall. The stark white woodwork jars against the warm tones of the brick, without that it’ll be a lot more harmonious.

In my opinion. The fire place is ok it’s the tiles hearth. It’s too large and the quarry tiles don’t look great . Could you put an oak shelf on the top and may be oak as a hearth. Or some black slate like tiles as a hearth but make them less deep

If you want super cheap and quick, I’d use vinyl tile stickers (from Amazon) on the hearth and paint the bricks. Will make it perfectly acceptable!

With paint and stickers though (I thought about that for the tiles) be cautious with heat if the fireplace is used as a fireplace. Which it should be

Thanks everyone I like the idea of a stone hearth and I'll look at French chic paint. We are likely to use it at some point so will look at that stove option as well.