No reason why you can’t paint the wooden surround. I feel they look better painted either white or a colour to suit the room decor. Are the tiles original?

Thanks very much Sonia. The tiles are not original and happy to replace them. Any ideas for tile design and the inside of actual hearth? Husband reluctant to paint fireplace because its original and has marquetry inlays!

But it’s dark brown Lizzie, never attractive in my eyes 😂 Maybe remove the tiles and open out the fireplace? Then you could put in a biofuel, electric or a log burner. I opened out my fireplace, removing all the rubble, and then we scrubbed the internal bricks and added an electric log burner and a pine surround which we painted white.

Thanks again. Wow Sonia yours looks lovely! Great job.

To me the insert and tiles are wrong but with those replaced for a cast iron insert it will be in keeping…… and I think that the dark brown only works if you have other dark brown furniture and want to embrace that look….. personally I love to see this painted in a strong colour with matching wall colours.

Thanks Jonathen. A cast iron insert is certainly worth considering. Its all so dark atm that may be adding to the dark look would work🤔

Thanks Wami, interesting to see the older thread. We have a wood restorer coming to look at the feasability of sanding it all back to its original colour. whatever that actually is! whatever we do the tiles, old gas fire and hearth are going. Looking out for some nice light tiles to useand then an insert to place some logs on, we dont intend putting another fire inside. thanks again, very interesting to see what other houzzers have done.

I had the same dilemma when we moved into our house with 2 fireplaces. I left one in natural wood as it has a beautiful colour and I pained the second one. With the pained fireplace I also bought stickers to hide the original tiles as I didn’t like them. Super cheap and easy solution. Here’s what they look like

Both so different but equally classy. You would never think these were stick ontiles. they look great! Did you need to restore the wooden fireplace or is that how it was when you moved in? Its a good colour, sadly ours is so dark- possibly mahogoney, still trying to get a wood restorer to give an opinion and price to restore it. Slow project but will be worth it eventually.

It was that colour so no restoration needed. Good luck with your project.

It's a lovely fireplace. With new tiles, it will look great either lightened or painted, IMO. Painting is more fashionable at the moment, wood will be more respectful to the original. But either will be beautiful.

(It's always a relief when horrible tiles are non-original and can be removed with a clean conscience, isn't it? One of my fireplaces had hideous cream tiles from the 1980s which I was delighted to rip out. The other is original brick and I'm gritting my teeth and preserving the original, even though it's not at all what I'd choose.)

Thank you Holly. totally agree re a clear conscience about removing the old, but not original cream flowery tiles. whereas the actual fireplace will Im sure improve with restoration, maybe some light sanding. I will send some pics when its all completed. Ive got my eye on neptune firplace tiles. Work not yet started but getting excited. Re your original brick Ive seen simiilar with a generous ie thicker complementary grout. looked lovely. thanks again Holly

I have a fireplace similar to this. The tiles are very reflective. A darker wall colour works much better than a light o one.

Thanks J. your tiles are attractive in design and love the colour! agree re reflective aspect.

Sonia, I don't mean to sound daft, but when you say scrub the internal bricks, (of your fireplace) with what? Did you use good old soap and water, or is there an easier solution?