Living room refurb: Scandi contemporary, East Yorkshire

In the before sots of this lounge you’ll notice another dated fireplace which sat alongside the tv in a fight for the focal point.

It’s a difficult balance, especially when you’re not sure what to do with a feature like a fireplace which is so central to a space but is also really unattractive!

It’s certainly a daunting idea to remove the fireplace – the wonder about whether it will affect resale / house value or the belief that a lounge or living room should have a fire.

Based on the fact that this family never used the fire, and mostly enjoyed family movies around a good sized tv and a fabulous corner sofa, the decision seemed obvious. It had to go.

It did mean that we were left with a situation where the tv was really the main focal point (another contentious issues for me) but it also would have been lost simply hung on the wall.

The room still needed something more to it, to bring it all together and create that feeling of a central feature – so I designed the bespoke shelving to create an interested mixed height feature – covering the full ‘media centre’ wall.

Loved the result! Combined with the soft greys (led by the client’s existing sofa) and the dusky blue shade of Farrow and Ball’s De Nimes, the result is a calm and tranquil space which totally disguises the television. Worked a treat!