Hi Malibu_tan Well I must also agree with the other four comments "the fireplace is a focal point" , all I would add to that is - man/woman has been looking at fire for many years, and it's reference to our being most likely goes back to primordial times. Fire (the moving flame) is deeply rooted in our psychic, and our relationship with safety and comfort, I would remove the heater and celebrate the fireplace. You can always put in an ethanol fire and close of the flue if required, but I would not get rid of such asset to your residence and your life. Depending a bit with the style of the house I would go as far as providing side book shelving storage, or DVD's, or your best collection of miniature spoons should miniature spoons bee your interest. Whatever you wish to display for your or your friends enjoyment. Then I would complete the lounge design around your final choice of tiles and mantle, if you are putting in a slightly better mantle than you have at present, or if you are going for a modernist look. (it all depends a bit on tastes and budget) If you are in a "period style" you could look at something like Regardless of your tastes I think you can get an ethanol insert in just about any fireplace, corny as it sounds the fireplace is "the hearth of the home" . Possibly not the response that you were perhaps seeking, and you might have a lot of reason why you want to remove it - well I would like to hear your comments. Hope this is of some help Regards Michael Manias

Hello, Your room is attractive but you are sensing something is not quite working and i think we use should use that feeling to look more critically. At the moment the room can't quite decide if it is luxe or rustic, Mid century or contemporary loft style. I think the success for you will be in making that decision and using that to guide your choices. Search these styles on houzz and decide your preference. Eclectic can work but not so well in this style of home as you need to consider the scale of all your pieces which should be larger than average due to the height of the ceiling Given this my advice would be ... Move the TV to the other wall which frees up the area below you could add further shelving in this area or a black or white midcentury styled pot planter on legs with a strong architectural looking plant, I think Ezi buy may sell these but there will be other suppliers. depending on your cushion choice - I would n't use too much black in this room. Your area is large enough to put a slim line mid century styled cabinet against the wall and place the tv on this if you don't want to wall mount it. Change the lighting overhead and the fan as brass is very dated and you should stick with the chrome of the larger lamp. You could consider a chrome pendant or collection of 3 at different heights where the tv is currently. Your brick wall is your feature so don't add wall paper or any other colour to the wall behind the couch other wise the room will become fragmented. You could either whitewash the brick wall or leave it as it is as the current tone looks like it adds warmth and blends with the timber and the furniture. If it is quite yellow you could look at a whitewash. I would not hang artwork on the brick as this is your feature wall and you don't need anything else confusing the eye as the room has good bones and your features are structural so they shouldn't be cluttered. You do need art on the white wall which should remain white but you could freshen up if that doesn't mean a full repaint of the house. If you are going to change the white brush out some old wall paper with different tones and see how they work with the bricks. Go for something that is framed in what or a mirror or round - Ezibuy have a lovely oak frameless round mirror at present on sale. 2 find and design and Annb1997 have offered some good suggestions for fireplaces and if you remove the hearth you will need to decide on what to do with the flooring. If your carpet is in good condition i think it goes ok for now changing to charcoal [ which is a colour I love] will fragment your room as it goes through to the bedroom - some time it is a case of defining where you will stop so I would try to simpler things first. If it is still ok I would look at a rug - think about coordinating with your cushions in some way. See below. You could change out your cushions and bring in some texture with a couple of colours at the moment they look a bit luxe and shiny. A strong print would be good have a look at Marimeko or Orla Kiely. These designers have a retro feel with good colours and crisp designs which would enhance the loft/ potentially midcentury feel of the house. Start with the small things first. Good luck please post the outcome.

strip part of the brick and mantle back to orignial if the exposed colour lines up with the room, strip the whole thing. Looks so well crafted not to pay respect to the past

That picture you put up has a stained glass window above the mantelpiece , so while it is marginally possible the window was put there when the chimney was removed , what bigreader says about it being decorative only is most likely . You can get fairly narrow flame effect electric heaters -- the ones around $100 look like it too , but the $200 and up ones seem quite realistic as far as flames -- I have no idea how good they are at actually heating though -- about 3 houses ago I put a gas heater into an existing fireplace , with the fake logs and everything ( the gas flame curled around the logs ) and that was quite good , but I doubt it would fit into your fireplace -- does it look like it ever had a 'hole' in it ?