What best to use to clean soot from a heavily soiled br fireplace covering & the porous bricks around it?

And also some soot that got on the white trim paint on the mantle area around the red bricks? Is there one best household solution that works on the br and gl covering, the bricks, and the paint, without taking the paint off or harming it? I was using a Windex-type gl cleaner that took off a lot from the gl, and also seemed to work on the br around it and the bricks, but has not got the painted area very well, and still the bricks and brass are not perfectly clean. Is there a better way?