New Project: Fireplace

The fireplace has some real potential.  But, it needs a design overhaul. Our initial thoughts are to paint the shelves white, remove the mirrors, paint the back of the shelves a darker color, add some lighting and maybe paint the brick and mantal white (but not sure of that yet).

Here are the before pics:

Here are some inspiration pictures that we may use to redo this area:

Painted shelves with lighting

Photo from madamepumphrey's

A clean, white paint look

Photo from Architectural Digest