Carleenimlach your fireplace is stunning. It is infact original in bungalow detailing, and the bricks are not painted. I know this treatment very well. They had a brick stain applied, which is a red oxide painted to give the appearance of an even red brick face, this was done when tuck pointing is applied to the mortar course. I can see yours was. It looks as though it was charcoal, also another Edwardian bungalow detail, and the lines accentuate the archway. The mantel itself is absolutely beautiful. I myself would restore the brickwork, and let this period detail return to being the heart of the home. The hearth bricks definitely need to go, in their place I would lay a single slab on stone, which is a little costly, but overall, is worth the expensive you save in defacing the brickwork anyway. I suggest a rough sawn bluestone slab that will further enhance the charcoal tuck pointing, and grey is not only a current interior colour, but it is also what edwardian bungalows often featured. So you get to have a current, updated interior whilst preserving the beauty and character of a period home. This is where the homes value lies.

You could have an awsome Halloween party with that fireplace, especially if you add the light fitting & table! If that doesn't appeal my advice is to first off get out the sage smudge sticks. :- )

Okay, firstly, this is very difficult to do without seeing the room in person. So rather than suggesting a colour, let me tell you some theory and hopefully you can work it out. The painting looks a little yellow on my screen, I think it would look different in person. You want the image to stand out. What you're looking for is contrast between the image and your surroundings. Contrast can give seperation between elements and that's what you're after, the wall to receed behind the painting. white is not cutting it because it's competing with the image. The image has some light bright tones ie it's bright and the white wall will be bright, so a while wall and the painting will both compete for your attention. the other problem you have is all of the other elements in the room are darker and warm timber, we notice warm colours before cooler colours (ie blues) first, so it's likely all of thu sis competing against each other. So to not compete with everything else, you want something cooler but also not saturated (without a lot of colour). You want people to forget about the wall. again it's very difficult without seeing the room, so any colour I give you is not going to work. Get a few swatches from Bunnings and take them home and hold them next to the picture in the room. Narrow it down the 3 paints then get a small canvas, Bunnings is cheap, paint that with your colours and rest them on the wall with the painting. Move the canvas around the wall. Good luck. Colour is difficult but just try and get something that doesn't compete with the painting.

ok. certainly a dark blue violet is the trend as blue violet, like green and yellow are colours that recede and create more space. Another creative option for you is to unite the 2 timbers colours. firstly add pots in the fence colour around your pool with tall plants that will link to the background trees or contrast them i.e. with red flowers / leaves. 2nd, paint some of the fence plants to the dame stain of the decking and others in grey stains. this look will create a natural decor style. Simple, easy and different. Have fun!