In my farm house, the previous owners stuccoed over the brick fireplace wall. Then they built a beautiful wooden mantel. It's pretty, but I so love brick. The fireplace in the basement is the brick. I was thinking about taking off the stucco, but what I did was to paint the stucco a lighter shade of the wall shade, so there is a contrast, but not too much...just enough so it stands out as being different than the walls & looks a bit like the fireplace.

I have been looking at fireplace designs on the internet...trying to get some ideas of what to do with it. Someone in the past had put an insert into that fireplace & never connected it to the chimney. I took out the insert & it was a black mess in there...most hadn't gone up the fleu & a lot of smoke had come out into the house. The chimney sweep said I would have had a fire in the chimney if I hadn't taken the insert out....lucky me....I didn't like it anyway & wanted it out....then I had a good excuse & did the right thing just by luck.

Sounds like you are having fun after all.....making something fun & creative out of a stressful situation usually helps & then it's really exciting with the outcome.

Debbie