Fireplace Focal Point - What Would You Choose?

A key part of the living room design is the fireplace as a focal point at the end of the room.  It's protected from dust behind plastic at the moment, but we want it to be a 'wow' feature when we're done.  On that wall we will also have window seats on either side, with built in storage.

We want to create a mantle around the fireplace.  But these gas fireplaces throw off a crazy amount of heat, so we need a big area of 'non combustible' material - aka tile - directly around the firebox.  The tile will extend to the area you see marked by blue tape.

And that creates the dilemma, which tile to choose?  I'd like to use a Carrera marble, but there are several options.

1) The current leader is this simple herringbone.  It doesn't scream for attention, but provides a nice pattern around the black metal fame

2) This is a bolder herringbone, but maybe too bold?

3) Doesn't this look like leaves?  It's a pretty sweet marble tile

4) I love this marble pattern, but worry it's a bit too bold - we don't want this tile to be the primary focal pattern.

So which would you choose?


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