Very interesting comments Bagpuss, thank you. I guess its not too late to change the furniture order! I would have never thought to use ivory furniture so that's definitely something to think about and I'm all for bringing in more light. I am planning ivory furniture for our living room, hallway and bedroom too (I love ivory furniture), so thought we'd do something different in the dining room. The walls are light too (off white/ nearly ivory) - that's another issue as I'm not sure that colour is suitable or needs to be changed. I actually thought (hoped!) the Mango furniture would create a contrast with the flooring as opposed to a clash and there are some (albeit few) darker tones in the mango furniture that match the flooring so there is a bit of a connection (or so I thought). And it sounds like I'll definitely need to rethink the fireplace altogether!

Thanks. Oh yeah, we're definately doing other rooms ! The whole house from top to bottom eventually. This room was top priority as it's the sitting room, we wanted to put our 'stamp on the place'. We've only been moved in since the start of the year. This is the before room, taken from the Estate Agents listing: .......... And now (trying to take a pic from the same place) The conservatory is hard to change, pic taken from the Estate Agents listing: ....... And now (taken this morning) - currently has our old sofa in there until we find some conservatory furniture that doesn't look like it belongs in a 1970's old peoples home. Only change is really the addition of blinds The study pic taken from the Estate Agents listing: .......... and now it's my man cave / music room And then .............. The current kitchen is getting ripped out and a new one put in starting 30th May. There is also a dividing wall that's being taken down between the kitchen and dining room to allow for a breakfast bar and a much bigger space. Designs from the kitchen people below Oh, and the double garage is slowly taking shape into the gym: Sorry for picture overload.

Hello cubacuba, When painting a room one colour it's advisable to consider variations on a theme.. So all woodwork a shade lighter or darker than wall colour. It makes for a more interesting scheme. In addition you can layer the furnishings in the same way and add textures... This is what will give the room some depth.. Repeat the scheme for the bed too with layered cushions and throws to compliment the room and complete the scheme.. :))

The unfortunate truth is the TV and fireplace are both competing for the same space and any solution is a compromise. Regardless of your desire for a fire it is bad anatomically to hang a TV too high. There is plenty of information online about the best viewing height and viewing distances for different sizes of TV. All this advice is ignored by many people - including professional interior designers. Looking at the design of fireplace you supplied perhaps you could bring a TV into the room and place it on the raised hearth when you want to watch it? My bet is that is the arrangement you would normally live with and then you would remove the TV from your room when you have guests? Or you could put a TV on a mobile stand that you can place in position when you want to watch it? You can get stands that would also take a SKY box or similar. The problem is trailing cables - and where the stand is positioned when not in front of the fire! You can even get devices that enable TVs to rise from the floor but they’re very expensive. Or you could project onto a screen that unfolds from the ceiling. Also very expensive. In my case, I opted to forgoe the fireplace, knowing the TV played a more important part in my everyday life. The room was then designed accordingly. Am I happy with the result? Yes and no but as I said at the beginning any solution - other than a separate TV room - is a matter of compromise.