Disappearing Act

Something must be done about the fireplace in the master!

Yes, that's the master...See, the master suite used to be the family room before the 1980 addition of the current living room.

So let's be honest, both fireplaces are a bit of an eyesore. But our big beef right now is with the master fireplace because it makes the bedroom really feel like a living space. So we have been brainstorming ways to make it disappear, or at least integrate it into the room so it feels more like a bedroom.

We already have some ideas: paint the paneling and the brick pronto! We are not sure what color to paint it yet, but even just a coat of white might help camouflage it.

When I went online to find more inspiration, I noticed that there is a real dearth of bedroom fireplace pictures. Here's all I found:

Pathetic, I know. But one thing I noticed in all the pics above (from pininterist.com, by the way), is that the fireplaces all jut out into the room like ours does. What's one either side of the them varies; some, like the last picture, use shelving painted the same color as the wall, while the others have some kind of cabinet or furniture piece on at least one side of the fireplace.

So I then decided to search for fireplaces that I like. Here's what I found.

Well, we don't have windows on either side of the fireplace, so that's definitely out. But both pictures (also from pininterest.com) feature cleaned up white shelving and a weightier mantel. This we can do!

So here's our plan as of right now: paint the paneling the same color as the walls (still TBD), paint the brick (probably white), add a beefier mantel, and remove the shelving dividers to create a more open look. (Maybe even paint the back of the shelves!)

Ryan has one more thing he'd like to do - insert a wood burning stove to really crank up the heat since his dear wife is always cold. So the fireplace would look something like this.

Any suggestions for us? Are you seeing something that we don't?