I've finally had it done, all, painted and downlights fitted! The difference is amazing, obviously it looks far better but also the additional lighting which I have now included with warm white bulbs makes a huge difference - all surfaces look brighter and larger and the whole house looks much more modern. £1630 very well spent. I had 4 rooms done in total. Pics before and after are not that exciting as it's hard to make a ceiling look interesting, but here they are anyway!

Hi Francis, Just a thought if you need a sofa and may have trouble getting up the stairs with big and bulky sofas. We make our sofas from modular units, ie a 2 seat sofa can come in 2 parts not 1 thus helping to navigate the stairs. Check out our website The London Furniture Company. Best regards The London Furniture Company

The best place for a tv is on the furthest wall or on the media console against that wall. Because of the fireplace on the right, I’d place the sofa against the left wall opposite the wall with windows and two chairs opposite the sofa. That way when you are on the sofa you can watch the tv, see the fireplace, have a comfortable conversation with people opposite and have a good view out of the window. I don’t know how much space is around the fireplace, but I’d have another chair with a footstool on the right to the sofa facing diagonally facing the windows. I would also make the furthest wall a focal point and add a storage with cabinet lighting in the alcove and visually balance the rest of the wall. Also it’s a good idea to add a gallery wall on the wall opposite windows and a mirror wall decoration and console table on the wall nearest to the entrance door. Something like this Have you chosen a sofa yet?

That looks like Anaglypta wallpaper which is usually painted over. Painted wallpaper is quite an effort to remove but if you hire a wallpaper stripper it will make it easier.