Hello Questn, A good room you have there and good floorboards! Don't rip it all out and start again! I would say take all that part out that you mention. The rest is absolutely fine!! With the hearth (the floor bit) take it out carefully as you may find a piece underneath that you can paint- I'd suggest a black or have a piece of slate made to sit there... The room is a good size so I would definitely open it out more.. I have attached an image of mine with a focus on the opening.. Unfortunately in the 30's they bashed up the marble surround threw it in the recess and put a little 30's fire in front.. I couldn't afford to replace it. So I just created a mantle with what little budget I had.. Ie None! Point of the photo is to show you the opening with just a basket. I put in a new lintel to be safe buy you should be able to check as you start removing the front. No need to remove the mantlepiece while you do this. I would have a think about the chimney breast colour before you decide on a colour for the mantlepiece. Little Greene do a lovely colour for the space above the picture rail and also the ceiling.. Whitening- it's a lovely chalky and bright creamy colour.. perfect for those two areas. Decide on a nice colour for the chimney breast and then paint the alcoves and rest of the room with a nice light colour to compliment... So for an example.. Grey moss (Little Greene) for chimney breast, Whitening (LG) for above space between picture rain and cornice and also ceiling. Then for alcoves and other walls..Ceviche is quite nice complimentary colour... For the skirting, picture rail and cornice, make sure you paint these all the same colour.. An eggshell in slaked lime (LG) could be good... All depends if you want it to really contrast or compliment.. I have not mentioned the window frame but if you want to paint that then use the same colour as well for that too and the architrave round the door. You could also do the mantlepiece in the same colour... You'll see I have only suggested 2 or 3 colours and that is as much as you really need... Of course my choices here are suggestions to give you an idea.. Get some sample pots and paint them on paper and stick them to the walls... So you can take a look through the day and see how the light changes the colour. With flooring... I painted my floorboards white as I hate carpet but again it's just a suggestion.. What I would say is get the chimney looked at and see if it can be a working fire.. They will sweep it and give you a certificate... Get them to do all the fires at once as it's easier...Then all you need to do is buy a good cast iron basket. If you intend to use it like I do then you need it swept every year and a certificate which they will give you. Have some logs delivered and away you go... Store them in a log store to dry.. As damp logs smoke!.. Or even if you don't want to use it - you can create the look as if it works... Just lay a few logs in... It's a good room - it's going to look very stylish.. Enjoy working on it.. : ))

Hi Laura, You've received many suggestions and some have been quite good. Particularly useful are the photos above of the French pied a terre with the slim line cabinets on one side. If you need somewhere to eat, you can swap the table and chairs for a bar and stools with slim cabinets either side. And don't worry about losing the panel radiator. Your plumber can install a hydronic plinth heater that connects into your central heating. I think the key to your colour scheme should start with your new cooker. Have you considered beige cabinet doors in high gloss? They would make your range look integrated and help reflect light around the room. Polished black granite (or laminate) worktop will pick up the black trim on the cooker. The arched lower door of the cooker points toward a more traditional or transitional look for a cooker hood (black) or an integrated hood. Beige and black tiles would keep the walls of the working area scrubbable. Look at metro tiles for a high gloss finish or patchwork tiles for some retro designs. Lastly, change over to LED lighting with warm white lamps. Avoid harsh white light overhead, but don't forget worktop lighting. Good luck and have fun.

Hello all Thank you very much for all these comments. First time using Houzz properly and I'm impressed. Before reading these, I actually played around with the layout a bit further myself last night and came to the same conclusion as some of your suggestions. I've attached an updated possible plan - but in the same 3d software (which is certainly limited, but still pretty helpful since it's free!). I've tried to label some of the key appliances. This layout places the oven and hob (750mm wide - I'd prefer 900mm if at all possible) in a different position and avoids the window problem, but also has space either side (which would be best). To answer most of your questions: Internal room dimensions are 4520mm wide by 4450mm long, 2650mm tall However, there is currently a thick wall along the entrance to the kitchen, immediately to the left of the door - this houses a chimney flue (for our property and the one below). The chimney stack has been removed from the roof and we are able to knock into some of that wall, to increase the amount of the kitchen with length 4450mm. However in the far corner (by the smaller window), we would like to keep the existing thick wall because there is a cupboard in the adjacent room that uses that void from the other side. In my latest design, you'll see how much of the wall we think we might want to take out in order to create more space at the room entrance. The breakfast bar stools are a nice-to-have - the main purpose of the peninsular is to slightly separate the kitchen part from the rest of the room and allow conversations across it whilst chopping, having a drink, etc. T a drinks cooler at one end which we would like to fit in somewhere and I just thought the stools on the other side / at the corner might be handy when it's just me and my wife. The fridge (in the corner by the new outside door) is large American Style in my latest design but that's not essential - a good sized 600mm fridge freezer would be fine too, especially if we have the drinks cooler. I haven't looked at induction hobs and have always preferred gas in the past, but I will research these - thank you. I agree that the microwave should be integrated if possible! As mentioned, the boiler (and all the pipework) would ideally stay in its current position to save the cost of moving it - but we'd want to then box it in and fit other things around it. I think that just about works in the latest design idea. Caldicot Kitchen & Bathroom Centre - thank you for your kind offer to mock something up in your own software. I'm a novice at this and yes, the software I found doesn't allow that much customisation of unit heights etc. hence the untidiness! This also isn't trying to show the style we want - and we haven't yet thought a huge amount about that. We'd probably opt for granite work surfaces and wooden units in simple light colours. Leaning towards traditional kitchen styling, not too modern. The property is a 1910 maisonette with period fire places in some rooms, although doors are shaker style. Floor wise - we'd like a stone / tile look but warm and easy to clean so not natural stone!

Im confused is the green for the hall or the loo? I really like the pelt in the hall and think you should keep it... for now at least. I do like that jungle green (my son has chosen it for his room - next project!), but I'm not sure it'd work in a hallway.