If you white washed the fireplace, what colour would you paint the walls? Would you paint the wooden wall or just leave it?
bonus points if you can link a better light fixture. 
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Oh my God that wooden wall is to die for!!! Don't touch it!!! I might retile the base of the fireplace instead.
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@gingerbebe: haha! oh yea, with what? I need me some inspiration!!
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Love the wood paneled wall but it looks dated. I would definitely pain it. The color would depend on the rest of your home and your personal preferences for interior deco. Do you want the room light and fresh, cozy, dramatic, colorful, etc? There are so many ways you could go with it.
I agree with @gingerbebe: about re-tiling the hearth.
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We had a similar set up in our family room in my childhood home. My dad painted the brick white and then sanded down the wood panelling and pickled it. The pickling is really pretty and lets the wood grain come through (I think whitewashing is better for pine, and pickling is better for oak). It was a very labour-intensive project using a combination of an electric sander and manual sanding (for the raised parts).
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@Meowkers: The whole house is that shade of rose and/or deeper rose. lol. We'd be painting the entire house. Whatever we picked for that room would flow into the kitchen, main hall, entrance, laundry, den. So, I would probably do something more neutral. I agree, that wall is super dated to me, but I am no expert at these things.
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I think I'd paint the wall white and leave the brick. And replace the hearth with matching brick too.
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@.twist.: In that case I'd pick a neutral for the regular walls and do the paneling in an accent color. I'd probably go with either a darker version of the neutral or a complementing color. And I'd change out the hearth so it matches the fireplace surround = white.
some inspiration:
https://cdn.decorpad.com/photos/2013/04/11/cecc3c50296f.jpeg - my favorite although i would have painted the brick a neutral gray.http://d3ka0sx7noujy3.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/green-farmhouse-living-room.jpg
http://rivista-cdn.delawaretoday.com/Delaware-Today/July-2011/a%20MisC/Buck-DineRm.jpg
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@Meowkers: Oh yea! Those are beautiful. I would have never thought of doing something like that. Thanks! This was my inspiration for the fireplace, and I agree, the black hearth would have to go, but it would have to stay for a while until we had the money to replace the tile.
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I LOVE the wood. If I were you, I wouldn't do anything to it until you get rid of the rose-colored paint and see how it looks then. I'd do a medium-hued warm gray on the walls and get some black grout stain to get rid of the lighter grout lines in the hearth until you can update it. Maybe paint the mantle to match the fireplace and set it apart from the rest of the wood? And I'm normally against painting brick (I had to strip an entire wall in our house...I'm actually still not totally finished...and it's been a PITA) but I'm not loving the brick on that fireplace so I'm on the fence about what I would do. At any rate, I would probably take the pieces one at a time -- wall and hearth, then mantle, then brick, then wood -- because the brick and wood are almost impossible to undo so you want to be REALLY sure before you paint them.
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I love that wood wall! If anything, I would strip it down and seal it in its natural color. Before you did that, I'd recommend painting the wall first to see how that changes the look and feel of the room.
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@.twist.: we updated our brass trim with spray paint and it went really well!
We ended up deciding not to white wash
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@PurplePeony: Thanks! Getting rid of the rose walls would definitely be step #1! I think they are going to make the biggest impact on the wall. I'm just totally not sure what kind of neutral! Grey is kind of where my head was at.
As for the fireplace, I feel pretty strongly about getting rid of the brick, but I think you're right, we definitely would need to wait and see what changes the wall colour makes!
@avivoca: If I could make the wall look updated by changing the wall colour/fireplace, I promise I will leave the natural wood alone!
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@T.H.O.U.: Oh man, I will be updating the brass, too. Sooo dated. Why didn't you end up white washing??
ETA: did you get a temperature treated spray paint?
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My old house had the same style paneling. I painted it first which toned down the fireplace. I would start there and paint the walls another color. I like the look of the panels in a crisp white.
Then after the painting is done tackle fireplace. I agree with previous poster tile over the brick. My aunt did this with a marble tile very pretty. I've also seen the faux rocks over the brick. Pretty too. Go on Pinterest and start clipping photos for inspiration -
@.twist.: Love it! Did you just move?
I would definitely paint the wall and brick and the dusty rose lol.
I would white wash or paint the brick and do the wood wall a medium to even dark gray. I don't think you need to retile at all. I updated the brass in our fireplaces and just used a high heat spray paint.
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@turkeylurkey: I have a linen white that I LOOOOVE, but I'm just not sure I'm ready for full white walls yet. haha It's such a scary thought.
@Reese: No, but we might. Saturday it was a for sure thing, today it's not. There's been a few complications that are out of our control... So... maaaaybe? ahah. I just started getting excited about what we're going to do so I'm brainstorming!
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I wouldn't paint the wood wall. It won't look like the links above because your house isn't the same style, from what I can tell. Your house dates from the late 70s/early 80s, and is mostly contemporary, yes? (I'm totally guessing based on the fireplace surround and the vaulted popcorn ceiling.) The linked photos are lovely, but those houses have a very different style. If I'm right about your house's style, whitewashed brick would also look really out of place.
If you're set on painting the wood, I would go super modern (take a look at something like Dwell for some ideas). I'd scrape the ceiling and do a smooth finish there (which is $$$), replace the fireplace surround entirely with some sort of spare white tile (also $$$), and replace the vertical blinds and flooring.
Your best bet is to find some inspiration photos of houses that you like that have a similar style to yours. In any case, I'd start by painting the regular walls first, and then consider whether you really want to paint the wood.
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@.twist.: yes we used a high heat spray paint. Wal mart had it. We actually use our fireplace so it was worth it.
We didn't white wash because my husband felt our brick isn't that dated (kinda just brown/beige color) and thought the white wash would look too DIY if we didn't do it right. We had other updating projects that we focused on instead.
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@honeybear: omg. you're ruining my dreams.
I'm not sure what the style of house is? I don't think it's contemporary, at least not as far as Google is telling me! It's got chunky wood bannister railings and bad carpet and bay windows and hmmm. looks kinda like this (is that contemporary?):
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@.twist.: I don't mean to crush your dreams! I think that you can totally make your space look good without spending a ton, I just don't think paint is the answer for that wall (I think it definitely is the solution to the rose colored ones, however!). Also, if your kitchen looks like that one and you want to redo it, cabinet refacing, wallpaper removal, a new chandelier, and/or a new countertop would go a long way to bringing it into the 21st century. But you know, there's nothing wrong with living with a bit of history, including the 80s.
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Someone I know is doing a Reno on a similar styled house and has similar panel,ing, and a brick accent wall. This is how she did the panelling and I think it looks awesome (this is a progress pic I found)
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@honeybear: haha I'm not sure I can live with that much history!
The kitchen looks a little better than that, but it's definitely going to be an adjustment from the more recent home we're living in now. My island will be gone. *sobs*. Anyway, the rose walls are the first to make their exit. @MsMini: Oh! I like that!
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I think I'd paint the wall a light neutral color and replace the blinds with pretty colorful fabric. I like whitewashed bricks just to tone down the color.
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@.twist.: I wish I had a pic with the brick wall before she white washed ... she did the floors dark after that and I think the natural brick actually looked really great with the painted panelling, the white-washed brightened the whole space though.
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@.twist.: we don't have wood paneling, but we white washed our brick fireplace and painted over the brass and now it looks awesome! I think we did a 1:3 ratio of paint to water
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