I'd leave the stone alone and paint the blck metal a matching color so one's eye isn't drawn to it.

If you're pretty sure you'll switch the stone out at some point anyway, go ahead and paint it. Pretty wild stonework you have there...is the hearth as uneven as it looks in the photo?

I would paint it. The color of the stone is ok, but I think the texture is cooler. If you paint it, the texture will stand out more, and it wont look slightly dingy next to that lovely yellow.

My best friend just bought a house and agonized over this very decision. We went ahead and painted it white, and it looks so good, she wondered why she waited. Her stones were a sand color in a blue room, so the white for sure looks better, but I think you would like the white too.

If that's real Austin stone I'd leave it, for resale value. But if it's faux then go for it.

I'd leave the stone alone - a stark white would just make the paint color look more horrible.

I actually think the stone goes really well with your yellow walls and white trim. I would live with it for a while - with all your furnishings in place - and see how you feel about it in a few months.

Is the house you're going to grow old in? (or at least a little older?) If so, definitely paint. I've never understood living with something you dislike because you're worried about the taste of the unknown future owner.

I'd paint it. if you do, be sure to post some after pics.

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." -William Morris

It would look awesome painted white. That cream color makes that fun, bright color look dated. Or like someone chain smoked right by that fireplace for years.

I like the creamy color. Everything depends on what you put around it. You can try white wash, too. That should leave a little of natural look to it.

i don't think you should touch it. its a lovely masonry piece and the color of the stones works well within the color scheme, giving it depth which would be lacking were you to stay within the strict daffodil/white combination. a room tends to look dull, sterile, and cold in those situations.
also the stones bring a little warmth to that particular shade of yellow, which can seem cold in certain lights.

If you are "building" the house why aren't you getting a stone or brick that you like???

Leave the stone alone. It's always a good idea to have something natural in a room...and element from the outdoors. I also think (hope) that a lot of that yellow will be toned down once you get your furniture, window treatments and accessories in there. Wait till the room is finished to make such a decision because this one is permanent!

Leave the stone, change the color of the walls and maybe the mantel color. Perhaps gunmetal. The color on the walls does nothing for that stone. It wouldn't hurt to beef up the mantel, it is out of proportion with the hearth.

Another idea, you could darken the grout.

Thanks for the comments. The responses are mixed on the question of to paint or not to. We aren't as concerned about the resale value of the home if we paint as much as we are about the reversibility of the decision to paint in case we don't like it. The stone admittedly is beautiful although has an uneven raised hearth.

But if we do end up painting, what kind of paint would we use? Can we easily remove it or would it be permanent? Anyway, we will make a final decision only when the home is complete and we move in.

We are having dark brown laminate floors put in and furniture is mostly white (vases, TV stand, etc.) and sage green upholstery with dark brown wood.

I'm all for painting the stone. It looks like cultured stone anyway? I do wholeheartedly agree with bthursby about the mantle though. That mantle desperately needs to put some weight on.

Agree about the mantle. There was a miscommunication with the builder about the mantle. He is the traditional style-type builder and didn't exactly get what we wanted in terms of a more contemporary look. We might change it later.

it's already a tasteful neutral. i would keep it. white wouldn't be a transformation that's worth it.

I would definitely paint the whole thing white. We've had the same issue in our home. Now it's white with a black stone mantle. I think in your case the white would freshen up the yellow wall and make a bright combination. We just used wallpaint for it...

Why are you accepting uneven stonework and a mantle that is all wrong?

It's your house, the builder works for you. Speak up now.

I don't think the limestone itself really affects resale value, but painting over any stone fireplace will turn away some potential buyers. It's likely a facade to begin with, since it appears to be a gas fireplace, so if you really hate it in a few years, you could always have it torn away and redone.

I don't think it's the color that bothers me about the fireplace to be honest. It's very Texas and the limestone works with the color of the walls. It's that pronounced hearth that looks terribly out of place in modern homes. I would have guessed this was a ranch style home from the 70s first to be honest if you hadn't qualified you were building it new. I agree with some other posters that you need to balance the mantle with the hearth.

OK, a few things.

First, if this is YOUR home and it's being buit to spec, you should have chosen the stone for the fireplace, not left it to your builder. Personally, I would have them tear it out and replace it with something you actually like, not paint it or wait until "someday". (I think the stone here is lumpy, unattractive, and disproportionate to the size of the fireplace, but that's just my opinion, of course.)

If that doesn't work for you, then I'd leave the stone alone and enlarge the mantle and paint it black. (Or maybe go with a dark stained wood.) Just include both pure white and cream accessories to cause it to make sense.

We painted our basement family room that same yellow. My "domestic partner" hated it at first -- he thought it was overwheming. But then we painted all the trim and closet doors (several of those) gloss white, had a neutral berber carpet installed, and a fair amount of mostly black furniture. I had a couple of shoji screens (cream white paper and black frames) and a lot of art on the walls. It looked great!

With the addition of (ideally white) drapes, maybe shoji screens, art, and dark furniture your yellow room will meet it's match and the color won't seem so shocking as it does unfirnished. (I do warn you, though, that the yellow reflects onto everything, so colors may not look the same as they do in stores.)

Good luck!

yes. paint it white.

Let us not get into why we are accepting this if the home is not yet complete. There are contract and cost issues involved. The raised hearth may not even be 'finished' yet so we'll hold off on our judgment.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions though.

I would paint over the stone for sure.

The ideal way to do it would be to get a good sealant coat over it so that the stone does not absorb too much paint. And thenpaint over it.

You will need to make sure that the sealant and paint are compatible.

Getting the right color is going to be tricky. You may want to get big color swatches and see how it looks especially at night and with dimmed lighting.

it looks to me like it's made of fake (concrete) stone, rather than real limestone. if so, all the more reason to paint it. if it's local limestone, i would leave it as is. but it sounds like the whole issue here is that you don't like it, so just paint it. done.

Since you asked about this in the comments, I'm going to respond. If you paint it, it will be permanent. You can try to remove it with paint strippers and sandblasting, but you will severely alter the texture of the stone. There is no reversibility; you will never get your stone to look like it does now if you end up hating the white paint.

Removing the paint will be almost impossible once it's done, so you'll have to replace the stone if you don't like it, as Greige said. What's more, if you do undertake the process of removing the paint, there's a pretty good chance you'll end up messing up the rest of what's in situ (floors, etc) as it can be pretty difficult to sandblast, etc... in a small space and keep it controlled.

As a matter of taste, it doesn't bother me, and my firm uses the same type of stone all the time on hearths and fireplaces in our modern homes.

Can we replace the mantel at a later time without requiring a contractor? Which stores, online or otherwise, are recommended for buying a mantel? We can paint it ourselves.

The stone is in fact, real limestone.

I'd wait until your house is furnished and you've lived with it for a while before you break out the paint...I'd extend the surround and flank the sides with built-ins, but that mantle definitely needs to be beefed up! It's lost compared to the size of the hearth. After you have everything in there, I think you'll have a better idea. Just make sure to get a good primer and masonry paint!

If your fireplace is around a standard length. You can just by a new mantle shelf either online or at home improvment box store. You should be able to use the supports from the current mantle on a new mantle. It shouldn't require a contractor.

Regardless of what you do with the stone, you need a more substantial mantle.

"because you're worried about the taste of the unknown future owner."

sometimes that future owner is you: when your tastes change, when you come to your senses, when yellow is a gauche color for walls.

painting stone (and brick) is un-do-able.

i'd think twice before doing it (i.e.: live it in for a while). honestly, i think painted white stone that textured would be an un-cleanable valley for dust and will look more dingy when it's never clean. at least the stone looks natural.

also, imho, the fireplace surround itself is striking, but the undulating hearth looks very odd. perhaps bust out that top course of limestone and replace with a thick singular slab -- or pour a concrete slab (off site) and place... concrete that thick should actually be pretty easy to form, pour and reinforce (but it would be stupid-heavy). or bust out the top course and replace with a course that matches the below and opt for a thinner stone hearth... seems to me the most egregious thing is the bumpy hearth.

I would change the wall color, and probably the grout color, but I wouldn't paint the stone. That yellow is just bouncing all over everything, and it seems much more reasonable to find a different color that suits both your taste and the architecture...

I live in Austin too.

This is definitely Texas limestone. It's ubiquitous here. But I'm a little surprised to see it used in the interior like this. (My house is veneered with it and we have used it extensively in the garden.)

I think it's worth preserving because it's part of the local design vernacular. And painting it would end up being difficult and unsatisfying. It's just too porous!

But before you think about replacing it (which is totally within reason to do. Your builder should accommodate you!) I have a suggestion. See about polishing it. It's relatively soft. And if you're lucky you'll find that it's filled with tiny fossils. The end result should be something closer to this -

http://www.krystalgardens.com/central_lime/texas_shell_0001.jpg

Our 1946 house was remodelled in the 1970 by the original owners and the fireplace was made to look like yours. In our case it is called Arizona stone and looks the same colour as yours. It is real stone and had that dark coloured grout. The hearth is large like yours but it has black slate on the top. The proportions are similar to yours.

The thing was so ugly especially with the dark grout and it dominated the entire house. I painted it the same colour as my walls, which is a light greeny grey, and put a chunky wood slab mantle with a some overhang on top to balance out the hearth. Huge, huge improvement.

It looks so much better. the lovely texture of the stone still shows through but the fireplace does not dominate like it used too.

I would say paint it. Just use latex paint. You don't need any kind of special masonry paint. I used a semi gloss so that I could clean the thing easier.

Hope this helps.

If u really don't like it, get rid of it now, before you do your floor. Otherwise you will always regret it and doing it later will be a huge mess.

I still wouldn't paint it, but like the idea of putting a flat slab on top of the uneven hearth. Either in a material that closely matches the color of the stone, or maybe even a grey slate. I think giving it some tidy edges will help make it feel contemporary.

Erika, when I was looking for houses, every other house (all 70s ranchers and 80s neo-eclectics) had a limestone fireplace. It's extreeeeeemely popular with the builders here in Austin, about as popular as the limestone facades on the exterior. It's probably a miracle that the house I bought had no limestone at all, except as natural borders around trees in the yard.

No comment on the fireplace, but I love that yellow color on the walls! I have yellow walls too, so from one sunny yellow person to another, GREAT WALLS! (Monet had a yellow dining room. It's been my inspiration ever since.)

leave the fireplace alone.... anything you do to it is going to ruin it. is less a color issue than how than an issue of scale.
a big rustic fireplace smashed on the cut off corner of a not rustic room is heavy handed no matter the color of the walls...
and so making that room work will be a challenge.
Painting it is like putting lipstick on a pig...
but at least the color of the stones is nice.
You're gonna need to dress the room to work with the ominous stone presence... no color will win that fight for you. If you paint the rocks, you might as well paint eyes and a mouth on it... because it will be hideous.

That being said, it is a great yellow... but is it a great yellow for a room with no other architectural features but a cobbled limestone meaty fireplace?

I guess the easy answer is.... re-face that thing before it becomes a room killer.

PAINT IT!!!!!

This is a perfect example of how an architect would have been beneficial to you in this process. An architect would have worked with you to find the options you wanted instead of a builder throwing in whatever they deemed suitable. (Not to be disrespectful, but that is our job. And it's not too expensive with the right architect, I promise!) That hearth is poorly executed and seems unusable. Insist that the builder replace it. Seriously.

I think painting it would be like putting lipstick on the proverbial pig.
And if you like the yellow on the walls, keep it.

Do you need a contractor to replace or alter the mantle? Depends how handy you are. You can also buy prefab mantles and look up how to install them.

The house I grew up in was built in the 60's and had 2 fireplaces clad in limestone like that, but with smooth hearth tops. Your builder has probably been installing them for decades...

i love the stone. i think you went wrong at the yellow paint, honestly. oh well, to each his own.

I actually like the look of the yellower stone. It doesn't look fake like painted stone does. I think with furniture in the room you wouldn't even notice for everything else going on.

In one pic, the stone looks the perfect bridge between the white and the yellow. In the other picture, the stone color fights the yellow a bit, so no real way to tell.

But it really depends on the look you are going for, and what else is coming into, the room. If you left the stone, the choices you make in the room can certainly make it work.

I say leave it, for now, and finish the room. You can always paint it later. While I never mind painting stone/brick/wood in the right context, it seems silly to me to paint *brand new* stone.

Just make sure a natural element relating very specifically to the stone, appears somewhere else in the room to make the stone work should you opt for not painting it.

i'd change the paint... a color in the red/orange range might work better

I'm also assuming, given your Texas location, that this is a regional stone (Texas limestone, no?) and has local relevance and a relationship to the region. All the more reason to keep it as is.

Paint, you can tweak.

I'd find ways to make the stone work, perhaps by introducing more of it, even in an outside patio.

Repeated elements of a home's construction give new builds a sense of history and continuity.

I have to agree with LowBrowLawnParty and zoee. I think the paint on the walls is the issue at this point. It may just be a trick of the photos, but it really takes over and colors everything else. If you don't want to change the yellow walls to another color (or shade of yellow), I think you should at least wait until everything else is in the room before deciding whether to paint the fireplace.

Noelo--

Um, yeah, being heavy handed sucks.

I have to go with the first response to paint the black metal so that the eye isn't drawn to it and just leave it as is.

I really don't love the look of painted stone.

People suggesting that the mantle is underwhelming or not suited to the fireplace, are you referring to the vertical height of the mantle or the width? Should it extend beyond the stone facade more?

The photographs are a bit deceptive but the white trims and crown molding really stand out against the yellow walls which we like (subjective taste, I know) and are not planning on changing.

Here is a wider angle photo of the space and here is one before the paint.

Your yellow is lovely. I can see why you chose it.

I'm afraid I have to agree that something does not seem to be working with these colors. I think that the color of the fireplace might really be nice with the yellow walls, as other commenters have suggested, but the whiteness of the mantel emphasizes the not whiteness of the fireplace. I think I'd try swapping out the mantel for a dark wood that would echo your floor and furniture. I'd go with something bigger and more dramatic than your current choice to balance out the chunkiness of the stone and keep it visually separate from your crisp white trim.

I had a rental for awhile with a painted brick fireplace. It was really ugly. I was glad to move away from it.

But it is your choice.

Speck, your suggestion seems perfect and I think you are right, the mantle may be the culprit here. And now more I think about it, changing it would make a huge difference.

Oh, please DON'T PAINT.

If it was common masonry (such as the standard red brick) or something potentially hideous (like those stone fireplaces that look straight out of the 70s... in a bad way), I'd say sure, paint.

But you have something unique & beautiful here. It's a simple, clean, timeless stone surface. Once you paint it, you can get that beautiful surface back (especially with the softness of limestone).

The fireplace does need some contrast, but there has to be a better way to get that contrast than painting the stone.

Yep, I'm with Spex. Try a natural stained wood mantle before you paint over the stone. Then pull in some similar wood tones around the rest of the room. The mantle should stand on it own--it doesn't have to match the trim.

Painted wood or stained wood... neither is "right" for the room... until you decide what the room is trying to be.

It may look very different one the dark floors are installed.

I think Speck is onto it. Match the mantel to the floor and extend it right out to the walls either side - it will help balance the colours and the proportions in one hit.
Good luck!

I'm also from TX and live in a home we built about 2.5 years ago...and I still haven't been able to make sense of all the minute things (like rounded sheetrock corners) and the corner fireplace I have as well, which is just a standard builders' concrete mold painted white, and unfortunately, completely off-centered on the wall so making an extension is mathematically challenging/impossible for the adhd brain to figure out- so I'm a little jealous that yours actually has some character already! I'd work with it, the white is impossible to clean with all the little indentions and you'll end up hating yourself for it :) But there are concrete/masonry stains...Sherwin Williams is a great place to go for that!

Buying a mantle/surround is expensive, and all you need to do is build a box with a few pieces of lumber and moulding and attach it to what's already there and build "up", aka, give it some girth! Especially before you try to mount your tv, assuming that's what the cut-outs are for...

Had another idea: have the mason fan out the hearth on both sides to meet the walls and also the sides with more stone so it takes up the entire corner. And beef up the mantel, extending it to the walls on either side. You also could panel out the entire space above the mantel to the ceiling.

You made a bold, beautiful choice with the yellow. Commit to it, and paint the stone white. Keep it simple.

i agree. white is the only answer w/the color of the walls, which is cool, bold, and unique. white will make it work!!!

I would paint it, but keep in mind once you paint it you can't go back.

If you do paint, I encourage you to do some research to be sure you use the best possible paint for your purposes. It seems to me that cost is an important factor in this decision. I can tell you without a doubt that if you a) use the wrong paint and/or b) skimp on proper prep work and/or c) apply the paint as you would apply paint to a smooth surface, you will be unhappy with the results.
There are professional companies who have great expertise and special products to make sure that you get the result you want. It would be awful to just use some wall paint and then have a mess on your hands that would cost $$$$$ to fix.

If it's natural limestone you can also stain it using super diluted aniline wood dyes.

We have a large natural limestone fireplace which I loathe. At least it doesn't have a mantle, for which I am thankful. We love very modern, minimilist style and have completely remodeled our condo to make it more to our liking. Everything looks great.....except that darn fireplace. Our walls are white, we have a lot of floor to ceiling windows and we have blonde hardwood floors. We plan to have the fireplace framed in and drywalled and use glass tiles to cover the hearth. We do not use the fireplace and plan to have our flat screen TV hung over it. Framing in the fireplace will serve two purposes....cover the ugly stone and make it much easier to drop cable and wires for the TV in the space between existing stone fireplace and the new framed in area. An architect did this very thing in a house my daughter and her husband bought, virtually tore down and rebuilt and it looks fantastic.

We may have to wait a while before we tackle the fireplace "remodel".....so in meantime I am thinking about painting the fireplace to match our walls. Anything is going to be better than that cream/tan limestone that covers a large expanse of wall in our living area. It just sticks out like a sore thumb with our modern and 50's modern furniture.

So, to the lady with the yellow walls....I would say paint that fireplace if you don't like it! I think white would look much better with the yellow walls.