We have been in our house for about ten years now and my wife really wanted to make some changes. It started with a fresh coat of blue/grey paint on the walls, white on the tile around the fireplace and black on the shitty brass fireplace. Here is a before picture to show what we were working with:
My wife wanted to pay someone to build us a new mantle but I was able to talk her out of that and gave it my best shot. There were a couple ways I could have done it like make a huge mess and pop all the tile off or just build a mantle that slides right over the existing one. I chose the second option. A little 12" whiteboard, base moulding and crown moulding and bam, a new mantle.
Last thing we did was make a new valence to go above the front window and the new blinds that we put up. Of course we had a little help making it look distressed and I think it looks pretty good. More importantly my wife likes it so I guess that is all that matters.
We still need to pick some new lights for the sides up above the mantle and new blinds for the small windows but this is a good start.