Make sure you check your local codes as to required side and top clearances around the firebox opening and the hearth requirements.

Penny - I typically love some of the more outspoken opinions here. I'll see a post and be like "Ohh, wait til Sophie sees this!" usually because I agree with her opinions! I'm sure I would be really sensitive to hear it about my own room, but that wouldn't make it untrue. :) I was reading and considering everyone's input, but I've realized it can be difficult to reply to suggestions from multiple people at once! I really, really, appreciate all of your input. I definitely think you're right about no more furniture with drawers. It makes a lot of sense in many cases (and in the pics that people posted). Unfortunately, with 73" on each side of the fireplace, a standard chest would look miniscule, and that would leave me with putting a full-sized dresser there. With three dressers (counting the Hemnes my TV is on), it would just look like I had an elaborately furnished closet and not a family room! I actually had both chairs and the round table at the entrance for years. Since they both swivel, the table kept getting knocked down, and I grew tired of having to shimmy between the chair and the endtable all the time. Maybe I'll go back to that arrangement, but I'm liking them flanking the FP for now. cawaps - Ikea is definitely where my budget is currently - but I get the feeling I probably need to de-Ikea this room as I'm able to. :) I'll be on the lookout for consignment and thrifting bargains that might work. Anglophilia - You're so right, flat fireplace walls ARE a PITA! My last home had a diagnoal FP, and boy, I hated that, but this is still a pain! I think you're right, the ottoman has to go when we can replace it. We don't mind having a few toys here, since the bedrooms are upstairs. We hang out here frequently (and it's off the kitchen). He's a bit too big for a playpen at this point, so we choose which toys to keep in here, and we have a place to put them away, and we keep the rest in the playroom. It's a balancing act! Suezbell - Thank you for all the ideas! I will definitely be finding a home for the owl. Storage and a desk would be useful additions, I will consider those. The bookshelf is up for sale, since the height and color don't really work in here. I'll likely be replacing the TV dresser when I can to something with more interest or color. The Hemnes dresser was really only meant to be temporary - and here we are 5 years later!

Just paint the FP Iron Ore, not the entire wall. Live with it for 6 months and see if you still want to paint the whole wall. Consider installing some glass shelves from the FP to the wall at the far end for an interesting display area. Lighting it with LEDs would provide a nice highlight.

did you post the photo of the radiator cover/idea that you had? it did not post. yes, I agree with a toddler, that would not be a good idea at all. You could enclose it in a cabinet with flat front - like dry walled in. then put a photo/artwork on the flat part, if that makes sense. the art would be attached to the wall just like any other frame. if you did put a cabinet cover there like the white one above, you could paint the same color as the wall - it might not stand out as much? if you removed it, could you put a window there instead of trying to match the brick - just first thought that came to my mind. maybe it could be a cool shape window and not just a rectangle? not sure how much that would cost. or I wonder if you could cut a window to match the one next to it. again I have no idea how much it costs to add in a window. it might be too close to the corner for that though?