Have you thought about faux painting it? My wife is a faux painter and paints them all the time. Saves a lot of money too! Just an Idea..

Here is a link that might be useful: fireplaces my Wife has painted

We covered a fireplace with cermic tiles. It turned out ok. Then the next one I did tumbled marble on the face, and travertine on the hearth.

There is also the option of brick veneer if you want something that looks like the fireplace used to/should have. Recovered Chicago pavers that have split into veneers are readily available.

Depending on what sort of look you're hoping for you could choose granite, marble, soap stone tiles, custom concrete, etc etc.

I know what you mean, a friend of ours painted a fireplace and it was a disaster. Also as someone who has tried to strip the paint off I don't suggest us. I was averaging 45 minutes per brick - it was maddening.

atmiller, thanks for the reply. Your wife does beautiful work. We did think of painting or faux painting but decided we'd like some type of granite-like stone to cover the brick.
Thank you pebbles. My first thought was the ceramic tiles but after looking through many magazines I like the look of a "slab" of some sort. We'd rather not have any grout lines and the maintenance that goes along with that. Do you know if soap stone or marble are less expensive than granite (or even concrete). I'll have to check those options out. I can't begin to think of painting the bricks and than someday wanting to remove the paint. What a job at 45 minutes per brick........that sounds like a year long project.
Again, thanks for the replies!