Those are wise words Karen! am so glad it worked out for you. Love to see a photo, what colour or shade did you choose? Jools, The bitumen is a right pig, best way we found is to make it cold, so it becomes brittle, then you can scrape /chip it off. We used a window scraper, coarse wire wool and various sandpaper. We left the window open on a cold night, turned heating off in there, and you could try a cooler fan on it. Putting ice bags on it didn't work as well as we hoped. we used a round sander, but it can cause swirls, it's really awkward ! To be honest a few dips and scratches on an old floor are okay in the end, don't be too afraid of it, they are only pieces of wood stuck down on the floor, not bone china, as long as you try not to break them, or set fire to them, otherwise you can't possibly do more damage than I did, and they recovered!

The thing to bear in mind is that you need a defra exempt stove if you are planning to burn wood in a smokeless zone, but there are loads available. I would let the installer deal with with the hearth along with the flue liner when it is installed. I have an open fire with a gas tray fitted and its great and also a stove which I love but as people say does throw out a lot of heat. These photos are my house, both of the fires were supplied and installed by Harrogate Feature Fireplaces. The sitting room fire is one of their huge selection of period cast iron fireplaces, and the stove is by Yeoman.

Hi Dee Mc , My neighbour has the exact same fireplace. We live in a Victorian townhouse. She gutted the place and went very modern. It looks amazing. She has the same fire in the front lounge, she has a dramatic flush mounted circular ceiling light, She also has a red circular sofa. She has plantation shutters at the window. the room has clean lines. she has a huge television above the fire. She also has a wooden floor. I think you can keep your fire, I would change the brass inset for a chrome or black one, also add some logs. You can get bio- ethanol or gas suited logs. The advantage of the fire you have is that you get more floor space than you would with a traditional fireplace. Nina Campbell is a designer who I love, she often does living rooms with hole in the wall fires and then puts traditional furniture with the modern fire. It really looks stunning. Check out some living rooms images on here with hole in the wall fires before you spend ££ on a new one.

Karen, to be honest with you, you do not really need the council's approval (or Lawful Develpment Certificate). As long as you are absolutely sure that what you are doing is within PD, you can just go ahead. The LDC is for future buyers, and can be gained retrospectively. I didn't wait for it on either of my projects - by the time it came from Lambeth I had basically finished the outside of the loft. It is absolutely critical that if you do this, you make sure your plans are compliant though...with loft conversions that is mainly making sure that you do not exceed the maximum additional volume measurements, and that the dormer is set back 20cm from the edge of the original roof. Do make sure your builder is on top of the necessary building control notifications and inspections though - this takes much more effort, and is nothing to do with planning, and absolutely compulsory. Happy to tell you more about this/answer questions: you have my e-mail address. Everything from the specification of windows,through insulation depth required, to position of plug sockets is controlled and needs to be correct. In my experience, plenty of builders don't know enough about the regs and bodge things. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/120/what_to_do_next/3