Tile!

Our new house has several places that I hope to re-tile at some point.  Probably the first place this will happen is around the fireplace:

I realize that this is not a great photo to get a sense of the tile around the fireplace.  My initial reaction to it was pretty positive: interesting stone, a sort of blending of cream colors and natural red.  Then I walked closer.  The tile is not 

what it appears to be.  It is NOT pretty.  It is NOT ok. 

 It is tile that someone hand-painted with weird and random landscape themes.  There are three separate groundlines: one on top and two separate ones on either side.  While I like the idea that some

one had, to add their own touch to this fireplace, I just cannot abide it.  It is bad - poor design and poor execution.

So, we've talked a bit about how to handle this tile.  It's not a ton of space to re-tile, so per

haps we can get something a bit nicer than what we'd need to retile the kitchen or bathroom (more on those later).  We went to a home show a month or so ago and saw some nice samples.  But, I'm still really undecided what to do about it.  We've talked about a natural stone with some red undertones, slate gray, maybe even mosaic or subway tiles.

Here are some we're considering:

I still have no idea where I'm going with this.  And I can't get these photos to format the way I want them to for the life of me! 

Anyhow, we're planning on leaving the the wall behind the fireplace burgundy, and will be leaving the fireplace itself white.  The other walls will be painted early on.  Right now they are a beige with a pinkish undertone to it.  We'll be painting it more of a khaki color, or at least a beige with brown undertones.  It should be a fun project, and a good introductory one.  Lower price because of the size, less grunt work - just removing the tile, then putting in the new and grouting it, and something that will have a big payoff in the end.  I think that once we succeed with this one, it will motivate us to tackle some of the larger things we have in mind, like the complete redecoration of one of the bathrooms.  I don't want to call that project a remodel, because we won't be putting up new walls (we don't think) and won't be rearranging the fixtures, although we will be replacing them.  That bathroom project is definitely for another post, when I finally have pictures to show of the baby pink and blue ceramic tile that covers over half of the walls, the bathtub that needs replacing, and the dated vanity.