Remodeling a fireplace

A few months ago Ron and I were talking about how could we update our fireplace, we thought well maybe a new mantle piece, maybe we should cut a little bit of brick off. Than we decied to give the fireplace a complete makeover. Ron decided to cut 4" of brick from both sides so that he could build built in bookcases on each side of the fireplace, than we decided to cover the brick with marble below the mantle area and drywall the brick above the mantle area, and than put a new mantle on to finsih off the look. Wow this is going to be a doozy but well worth it when it is all finished. Here are some photos of the fireplace before the makeover.