How do we fix this ugly fireplace?

Personally I would lower the mantle and get rid of the side wood pieces. Fill in the top half of the indentation above the fireplace and the lower the mantle til it it just even with the bottom of where you filled it in. Then you can tile, faux brick or perhaps use pallet wood to fill in around the fireplace itself. You can check Pinterest for great ideas also. Good luck

Fix the trim on the left side so it lines up with the top first.

Use a fabulous tile or paint the white rectangular section above the fire box. I would go with something totally eye catching to make it a feature.

Use wide wood boards along the sides and across the top where the wall color shows - something that will make it look substantial, but without distracting from the feature section. Add a large, wide, flat wooden board frame from the top of the mantle either all the way to the ceiling or to several inches above the television. Paint or stain the new boards and the existing trim and mantle a dark, rich color to make the whole thing a feature and to make it all cohesive. Paint the area within the frame around the television one of the colors pulled out of the feature section - a subtle one would probably be best.

Get the rigid cord hider things from Lowes or Home Depot or where ever, attach them to the wall securely, and paint them the same color as the walls. once they are completely dry and the adhesive has set securely, hide the cords.

Unless you are just absolutely in love with them and can't stand to move them, remove the candles from the mantle and replace the left one with something taller and more slender - a vase of reeds, a tall sculpture, a chunky candlestick with a pillar candle (or a collection of three such candlesticks). The tall thing should be just a few inches below the top of the tv when in place. On the right side, put something shorter and round - like a decorative sphere of some sort about the size of children's basketball. A mercury glass globe light cover would be pretty. Or, if you don't want a round something, some sort of solid color sculpture that is taller than the candle on the right in the photo, but shorter than the candle with the lampshade on the left in the photo. (And just so you know, you probably shouldn't burn candles that close to electronics...)

Sure;y hoping you will post after pictures. There is great potential with this fireplace you have started.

Some ideas.

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Hi What I would do is paint the wood gray and get some gray stones from Floor and decor. The kind that comes on a net and fill in the white area. Or whatever stones you like and use a coordinating paint. Get rid of all the wires by either buying a wire tubing or put them in the wall, and fish them out at the outlet.

If you are handy, you can lower the mantle, but that would be a big job if that white area is tiles. It would require sheet rock. If you go that route, you can also widen your mantle.

Part of the reason why this fireplace does not look attractive is because the scale of its parts is not right. The mantel is too narrow, and the wooden sides are too narrow for the size of the centre portion. The other reason is because there are presently three different materials and surfaces that are competing with each other, and no one comes out the winner.

I would start by asking yourself 'how much or how often do you really use this fireplace as a heat source?' If the answer is not often, then I would suggest before you begin throwing money at trying to transform it, to instead remove the whole lot first.

You will then have a blank slate from which to begin decorating in a way that fits your lifestyle and how you use the room.