Board and Batten Fireplace
Our fireplace wall was quite plain to say the least. We thought about stone, tile but then ended up doing a simple and inexpensive board and batten wall. This is a simple DIY project, we kinda made up the pattern as we went.
More details on my blog - http://www.woodworkingfourdummies.com/blog/board-and-batten-fireplace
Cheers,
Ian