I agree with what everyone has said here on the arches and fireplace. I am about to wrap up a rehab now that had incredibly soot covered brick on the outside and stained. Even after scrubbing the brick was just discolored. There was a white mantle, also stained, and natural brick. We used a stained technique on top of the white mantle which looks very much like natural stained wood now. There are wood beams on the ceiling in the living we did the same with. We painted the brick white and are going to spray the inside of fireplace and screen with a high heat black paint but have't done that yet. Finishing wood floors in this one...probably 7-10 days to go.
On the awning, yes, get rid of it. I would build something like a wood pergola and lay sunshade fabric on top, stretch it tight and put strips of wood on top of that and screw it to the top.
