I'm not sure how board and batten will work with your wonderful rough plaster. B&B (or flat-panel wainscot) is really more consistent with colonial, shaker, or arts-and-crafts/craftsman house styles. Your home, from what little the pictures show, is more storybook or English cottage style. Are those coved ceilings in the living room? Keep the wainscot in the bathroom, but don't spread it into the rest of the house -- it won't work. The fireplace is wonderful and unusual. I agree with the others that a heavier mantel shelf set it off beautifully. You have a charming home as it is. Play up its character rather than trying to turn it into something it isn't.

The tv looks to high to me. It should be lower. It is lower on your inspiration picture, but, your inspiration picture has a longer lower opening and is either gas or electric. Yours appears to be wood burning. You can build in the sides, and have it all look similar, but, find a new place for the tv and just have a nice pretty picture where you now have the tv.

Drywall isn't considered a combustible in some applications, but behind a range in the kitchen, for instance, you would want cement board and metal studs if you don't have a backguard. Your area's buiding code enforcement office could probably help you out a lot here if you live inside city limits. I'd be more concerned about wooden studs behind the sheetrock that may experience heat transfer than the sheetrock itself. If this isn't a fireplace regularly used, consider an electric insert.

Hi Patricia, Thanks for your feedback. Yes, sounds like a real kitchen designer may be helpful, perhaps more than the free Traemand/IKEA kitchen designer. Do you have advice about how to find a kitchen designer who specializes in IKEA components? Most KDs I found are generalists who are more used to working with custom cabinet makers than IKEA. Inspired Kitchen Design is the main one that pops up time and time again when I search for IKEA kitchen design but I can't tell if they are going to be about the same as the IKEA KD. Also, what's the expected price range of a KD that specializes in IKEA kitchens? I found some designers who charge more than what I expect the IKEA cabinets would cost and I wondered if that's normal and expected.