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!

Sadly we can't move the door. It's a bungalow and all the doors are next to each other so it will open onto someone coming down the stairs. Beds won't fit against the papered wall as door hits them. We have found the best place is against the chimney and as Mary says, we are going to get a large sheet of ply and create one large headboard now (will pad and fabric over - as for what pattern or colour to go for, that's another dilemma!! 🤣). Then do a build in shelf that curves around to form side tables (think Colourhappy mentioned this as well) In the future - we think we are going to panel the whole wall up so it forms a flat wall and the panel sections in the alcoves will become cupboards for storage 😁 No time to do it now but I think in autumn we can design and get it made without little disruption. It would give us a good large wall then without compromising on space. now just need to work out how to dress the room 😱 - separate thread I think??

I'm afraid I am always wary of fixing the tv above a fireplace & heating source. My concerns are a/ the height it puts the tv at - is really a comfortable viewing angle?? I see currently you have the tv lower on the chest/drawers. mock up the tv on some card an hang it where you were thinking of mounting the tv and look at it for a while to see if it really is the best location. There are some mounting systems that might allow you to mount the tv flat in the alcove and bring it forward when in use. b/ heat rising from the heater and damaging/overheating the tv. We often don't realise how much heat makes it's way directly above. If you decide to position the tv in the alcove, then a darker color in the alcove would reduce reflection.

If this is a terraced Victorian or early Edwardian house, what you’re seeing is pretty typical - as someone else has pointed out above, the reason this fireplace looks off centre is almost certainly that the flue for the fireplace in the room below it runs to the left. If you’re using the fireplace below, do NOT knock into this one just to see what’s there - you could end up cracking the lining and causing smoke to come through. If you’re not using the fireplace below, you have much more options: the cheapest is to close off the right of the fireplace so that the remaining gap is centred; you could also fit a load bearing lintel and extend to the left. I’m with Cacoona though - asymmetry can be a nice feature