I also have a large log combustion heater in an old Queenslander. Unfortunately these ugly things were all the rage in the 80's, 90's. The later ones are a little easier in the eye. Mine is larger than most and has an 8inch diameter flue so does not look like a box with a stick coming out the top. Could be an idea to make a feature out of the flue. Have you seen those open metal mesh flue surrounds? They are a bit..."old fashioned" and are usually brown enamel, and never extended up to the ceiling...so looked like a bit of an excuse for safety. If you do not have pone of these..get one and paint it with a metal/heat resistant paint in a metallic paint of another colour...mabe copper? Or something that matches things in the lounge room...that might help. Other than that...maybe have a shiny chrome or stainless steel flue surround especially made...or get a plumber in to replace the flu with a stainless steel one or even a lighter colour enamel one if you can find such a thing these days.. I bought one that was meant for a combustion cooker of the same era as my heater..it was a golden cream and tan and looked lovely in my timber-walled house. Now for the wall behind the heater. These were usually made of something fireproof and unimaginative like bricks or tiles, were a real eyesore and dated a room terribly. An alternative might be a curved screen of mini orb in aluminium. MIne looks really nice with the new stainless steel flue..( a chimney fire burnt the enamel one I had!). The trick with these boxy ugly heaters is to give them a re-paint occasionally. Fireproof enamels are available in different colours. Hearth? Usually tiles or bricks and not pretty! A solution could be beaten copper or a simple stained timber frame on the floor in front of the heater filled with nice pebbles or even a couple of larger nice-looking ...or all large stones...all available from landscape places. Another idea, since your heater is in a coener, could be to have a decorative metal screen made to curve around the frot of the whole heater. These open fetwork screens seem to be a popular addition to rooms and set in dividing walls just for decoration. Such a decorative screen in front of the heater would not impede the flow of the warmth and you could have a woodbox in the same decorative metal near the heater. Such a screen would need to be moveable of course so you could put the wood in and clean out the ashes. Hope this helps.

To keep or not to keep... an interesting dilemma! Luckily, there's a pretty cool article to help you with this decision. Check out: [Fabulous Shelving Solutions to Frame Your Fireplace[(https://www.houzz.com.au/magazine/fabulous-shelving-solutions-to-frame-your-fireplace-stsetivw-vs~29443292). And these are some really nifty ideas if you decide to lose the fire, but leave the place: [Have a Heart: Make Your Fireplace Look Smokin' Hot All Year Round[(https://www.houzz.com.au/magazine/have-a-hearth-make-your-fireplace-look-smokin-hot-all-year-round-stsetivw-vs~31498840) I especially love this idea:

Hi Sien, frequently tiles are built up covering either original stone hearth and/or concrete bases required to keep the fire away from timber so you need to figure out: a) Do you want to keep some sort of a fireplace b) Will it be functional and what kind of fuel do you want to use c) Are you prepared to put the work in on maintaining a traditional fireplace with wood fuel (lots of work - dirty, unpleasant work and chimney sweeping) or the cleaner gas/electric options. I don't think you need an interior designer - you can do it yourself - do your homework and talk to local fireplace retail specialists in your area so that you're making informed choices - this will help you decide what to pull out, what to keep, what to install. Then you can call in a fireplace maintenance expert (sweep and flue services) either to clean out your fireplace prior to pulling it out (stops more dirt/dust/soot from flying around your home then absolutely necessary) or doing the maintenance on it.

Hi Georgia, The brick is quite dominant. You could paint out the 2 small side walls to match the rest of the walls in the room. The main fire place you could do the flooring; up to the mantel height you could either leave the brick as is as maybe white wash it to make it less dark, or you can clad it with a tile of stone. Replace the mantle timber wish something that is the full width of the fire place so that it creates a separation point. Paint the brick above the mantle either the same colour as the rest of the room or something complementary. There is always the option of plasterboard so you don't have as much texture visible. Let me know if you need more help. MKG