Do you plan on painting your walls? I hope so. If yes than could also change your plan later. Be sure to look at the entire room before deciding how to decorate just one wall. I would consider a greige tone on the walls. As you have natural wood baseboards..(I like them), I would add tall shelves, the color of your trim to each of the alcoves. The bottom of the alcoves could be closed cabinets. Your TV could sit on one of them. Leave the backs of the shelves open for the paint to show through. You could display other art (including paintings) on them as well as books, photos, etc. I would not put a mantle above the fireplace as it looks more contemporary to be a clean look. I would place a very large framed round mirror over the fireplace, or a very tall vertical one, If every mirror were to only reflect a great view..there would be very few of them anywhere.

I would go with what the architect suggested. That was my immediate thought and also means that you will get light into your living area all day since the kitchen would be at the front and the living room at the back. It will be a nicer space to live in. If you really can't face bedrooms at the front though could you do something like this? It clearly isn't to scale!! You probably sacrifice a bit of space in that smallest bedroom but gain much more liveable floor space at the front of the house. It also gives your husband the open pan area he likes. It does sacrifice a separate entrance way though. I'd also shift the bathroom wall out and steal some space from the utility room so that you have a larger bathroom.

I plan on installing a free-standing fire basket in my open fire and I need to decide on the hearth. I was planning on having a tiled hearth, including into the fire chamber and under the fire basket. This seems quite common with stoves but there are not many examples of the same idea using fire baskets. Is it possible/desirable? Basically I want the look in the attached photograph, but with a fire basket instead of stove.

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