Half Stripped and Other Dilemmas

This weekend I made good progress on the brick wall exposure.  I worked on it around 4 hours each of the weekend days - basically, until I could no longer open my hands anymore!

Here is how is looks as of now:

The wire brush step that comes after this one will scrub off most of the remaining mortar residue to give it a more clean look. Even so, the wall is far from perfect.  It bulges a little in places, it is multiple colors, and it has chips - some caused by my crow bar before I reverted 95% to the chisel and hammer method and some preexisting.  All of this just makes me like it more.  There is something very bold, refreshing, and honest about exposed brick, particularly in old buildings.  It wasn't laid with the assumption it would be visible in the future.  It shows the true nature of how it was fashioned and how it changed with age.

I like being able to view it as I come down the stairs from the second floor.  I can already start to picture how it will transform that room.

Another thing that will transform the room is the wood burning fireplace that I'm planning.  The Hearth and Stove people came again last Thursday to provide another estimate.  What I'm planning is for a wood burning fireplace in the first floor and then vented gas units in each of the two bedrooms above it.  There is a second chimney in the house with 2 fireplaces, but I am not planning to do work on those for now.  That chimney was torn down and would be even more expensive to restore.  The problem with my plan is that the previous owners installed wood paneling all around the fireplace and a TV above it.  A few things:
1) The wood and crown molding is very nice, but not really me, and I think it fights with the exposed brick wall I'm making for focal point status.  I do like the bookcases - just not the middle part, and I'm curious as to what is behind there.
2) I took down the TV to do my wall project but there is a bunch of wiring installed behind the paneling for easy hook up of a variety of things.  Tim is coming on Thursday.  We'll celebrate his birthday with dinner and then I'll ask him to look at the A/V install and give some advice on how we could move that.  I'm thinking a small TV in the kitchen where I could watch morning news or evening news while making meals would be better.
3) Per code, I'll need about a foot of clearance around the fireplace opening.

I'm hoping some of the space behind the panels is hollow.  I can build a wood storage area and space for games storage if so.

Any ideas are welcome!

Here is a picture of the wall I am referring to and a close up of the fireplace.  I really like the iron panels in there.

Here is a link to the whole album from the weekend:  Wall Progress 2015.07.11 - 12 & Fireplace Project