Per request, this is the first picture of the white fireplace, after three coats. I put the silly vases and the whale for reference. As in, LOOK HOW WHITE IT IS! AND HOW BIG! And clearly not decorated!

I have a couple of ideas.

First, where I put those itty-bitty vases, GIANT vases. Some kind of large tall glass stand, either to hold candles or some sort of those sqiggly sticks. I think it will add height and hide the massive amount of white brick.

Something like this, maybe:

And then, a new mantle. To cover the two rows of brick that the whale is resting on, that hardly counts as a mantle. Either some wood that we make ourselves and paint black, or something dark like this:

In fact, I like that whole picture. I wish that was my fireplace. *sigh*

We’ll get there someday…