Thank you all. Apologies I'm not sure how to answer individually. I agree that the skirting board jutting out looks very strange, most rooms in the house have some 'interesting' design choices. Would you believe that the man who made these changes has now set up his own building company! The lamp on the left is from IKEA, I only bought it a few months ago so it should still be available. Unfortunately the lamp on the right is a flea market find so no idea where it came from. The second alcove is substantially smaller than the one with the bookcase currently in it. I'm just concerned that it may look 'unbalanced' with the built in shelves. I haven't managed to find pictures of rooms with alcoves differing in width. I do love the idea of built in shelves, it seems safer than our current bookcase and adding the storage underneath the last shelf would be helpful. I have found an original black cast iron Victorian fireplace with a width of 125cm versus the 140cm of the chimney. Would this work with the green wall? The room is painted in Breakfast Room Green and I've attached a photograph of the fireplace. Thank you for the suggestion about the mirror. This is the first time that the living room has been tidy enough to have the mirror against the chimney breast so it's helpful to have opinions on it's size. Thank you all again!

All fireplaces are beautiful features, be it contemporary, traditional or a stove. All of them add a certain level of coziness to a room and can be the centrepiece of any room. Contemporary always have this sleekness, while traditional are mostly majestic and stoves are pure homely warmth. It all depends on the design, they have to work with the surroundings!

Hiya,This is our lovely.living room...The issue we currently have (apart from the beautiful fireplace) is the layout of the room. At the moment, my husband and I sit on the two seater to watch TV as the three seater is too far. Along with the strange shape of the sofa arrangement so when people are over it doesn't seem that sociableI have mixed feelings about keeping a fireplace - I love the feel of a log burner but I can't see how the room can work without ripping it out.Help!

Thanks for your plan @Wumi! With two of us working from home all day I don't think I could face moving the office or sitting room to the darkest part of the house. As the current utility room has a translucent roof at the moment, and a glass door to the dining room, removing it wouldn't really bring more light into the middle of the house, so I think whatever room(s) gets placed there needs to be something that isn't used for long periods of time or, perhaps, 'embraces the dark'. It's a relatively large space for a utility and toilet alone though. Any ideas for what other rooms could go in a relatively windowless space? I think my imagination has hit a wall! Thank you!