It depends on if you want your FP wall to look as tall as it is. If you do, use brick all the way up. If you want to break it up, do brick up to the mantel and then use tongue and groove siding the rest of the way up and stain it to match your beam. Just my opinion. An expert I am not.

Here is a picture of what we did. We do not have a vaulted ceiling but the ceilings are 11'. Our mantel is a "floating" style with 4 pieces of 3/4" rebar holding it up. Ultimately I think it comes down to personal preference as both would look good.

Mjwkr- I love how your mantel is mounted!! Do you mind if I send your photo to our builder?

What color brick?

You didn't post dimensions, but the living room doesn't look enormous. I feel like brick all the way up would overwhelm the space, especially if it's a darker brick.

I would want the focal points to be the lovely view and the mantel.

I agree with annkh. The other thing to consider is what you intend to put/hang over the mantel as many items will blend into the stone but stand out over drywall.

If you want the mantle to remain the focal point, then I would move the TV. Why clutter your beautiful, handmade, piece of art mantle with a flat screen above it?

The tv over the fireplace argument is one that will never be resolved. If you like it, leave it there. Mjwkr's looks nice indeed.

I agree with Ann. We almost need to know the height and width of that wall. I might be tempted to say that I would not go to the ceiling either.

I remember when you first posted your plans. I loved your plans then and love how your house is coming along. I hope you will share your progress.

Annkh- you voiced my concern exactly- that the brick will overwhelm the space. There is tons of light in the room, so I think it can handle the darkness of the brick, but I think it might be to "heavy" for that wall. We would use the same brick that we used on the outside of the house I think, so it is not light.

I'm sure I SHOULD know this, but I don't know what the exact height of the ceiling is in that room. Maybe 18-20 feet? I don't think I ever asked, but I can find out.

As far as the TV over the fireplace, I am doing my BEST to not go that direction. If I have my way, the only TV will be upstairs in the bonus room.

Thank you guys so much for your input so far! And I'm definitely open to any ideas!

Red lover - I'm not advocating for no tvs over fireplaces. Period. Just in this case where they want the mantle to be a show piece. I will also say don't hang a huge piece of artwork there either. Let the mantle shine.

I also meant to say, red lover, thanks for your kind words about our plan and on how our house is coming along!! We are just honestly so pleased with it! It will be a wonderful home. I have been posting occasionally, but definitely plan to post a reveal when we (ever) get in! :)

AngelaZ, feel free to send the picture to your builder. Here is a picture w/out all the Christmas Decorations:

This post was edited by mjwkr on Wed, Jun 11, 14 at 8:49

I prefer sheetrock above so the fireplace and mantel really stand out. If you brick all the way up, given the height, the mantel will just be a slash in a wall of brick. Your ceiling is much higher than mjwkr's and so the proportions need to be different.

While not a fireplace, we salvaged a couple of hand hewn beams from the old house and mounted them on top of the stone work and left sheet rock above.

I think too much brick on a fireplace will start to look dated soon. We had 2 fireplaces in our last had that had brick all the way to the ceiling and it was too much. Now stone all the way to the ceiling would look really good....