Personally, I would just remove those ghastly things growing on the mantle (whatever they are) and repaint the powder blue panels over the fireplace with a colour that matches/"goes with" the rest of the wall.
I like the panels over the mantle. They're an excellent place to hang pictures (family portraits), for example. The brick floor is practical. I wish I had a nickle for every time I've seen carpeting in front of a fireplace. Real wood isn't always completely dry when burned, and the moisture in it can create enough steam pressure to blow embers far from the fireplace and onto a carpet. That's not gonna be a problem with a brick floor.
I'm not sure I'm keen on the idea of mounting white trim boards half way up the walls. Years ago, people mounted "chair rails" on their walls to protect the walls from the backs of chairs. That's because years ago, chairs were made of wood and you pulled them toward you when you bent over to sit down, and you pushed them away from you as you got up. Back in the 1800's, the only paints they had were Kalsomine paints, egg tempura and milk paints, all of which are very weak and easily damaged. Also, nowadays it's rare that you see a wooden chair light enough to move except in a dining room. Most chairs we have nowadays are upholstered and won't mark the walls even if you did move them when sitting down or getting up. That is, the only purpose of a molding mounted on the wall is to act as a chair rail, and there really is no point in having chair rails anymore except perhaps in a dining room. Nowadays, lots of people are putting up chair rails, but they're putting them up for aesthetic and decorative reasons rather than for any practical purpose. If it wuz me, I'd spend my time and money on things your house is gonna need. And once you move in, and start living in that house, you're gonna find lots of those things.