Great looking fireplace you have there! I agree it looks Art Deco and placed in the corner of the room, it makes me think your house is older than 50yrs. I'd guess it was built more like in the 1930 -40's. The gas heater and tiles looks like they were installed around the 60's. And the original tiles were ripped up and replaced with the ones you see. The rubble-y area on the side was I believe the original hearth. The new tiles didn't quite line up with the old. And no doubt, modern new wall to wall carpet was installed over it the same time so they didn't worry about it. If it was mine, I'd get a plumber in to disconnect the gas and pull out the heater. I'd then see if the chimney was in working order. Do you have chimneys on the roof you can see? Then replace the tiles and paint the surround. There's a good chance there is a void behind the gas heater. I'd look into making it back to a working fireplace. If not, I'd pop some nicely cut decorative looking logs into the space. You could remove it but it's lovely and the room looks large enough to put a wardrobe over the opposite wall to the bed. Lastly could be a bit of work to remove the wall as I'd expect it is masonry and need to check that it can be taken out without structural damage to the rest of the building. Often these fireplaces were paired up with one in the room behind. Do you have a corner fireplace in the next room?

I think the safety issue is that with this style, the contents are right at a child's eye-level. They'd be much more tempted to play with this draw. I think you'd have to invest in a good child lock. With a regular drawer style, you could have it a slim profile be the top drawer. Less likely for them to easily see the contents. They might not even know what's kept in there. You could even have push release instead of a handle so it appears there is not even a drawer there. Same could be done for the vertical unit. I'd still want to use a child lock though, if I had a kid around. The knife blocks vary in price A LOT. Just saw 7 pce sets online for $69 on sale, $199, $274, $549... I would hope they include knives! You might be better off grabbing a bunch of the RETRATT blocks from Ikea.

HI Kath, Yes the larger lounge needs to be moved in front of the blind and .8M out from it. (you need .8-1.5 meters walkway space between any objects and any less looks cluttered) The 2 seater, needs to be moved 90 degrees to touch, almost, the 3 seater and facing the fireplace. Position or purchase a new square coffee table to fill the void this will create and a matching one in the large space facing the TV. Move the TV Cabinet, which absolutely is too large for the niche, to the large wall. Decorating is about matching shapes and proportions. Pop it all above a rug that sits under the entire lounge suite. You also need two artworks of the same size for either side of the fireplace. As a customised artwork specialist, I would suggest, contemporary styled collages in a your natural palette with accents of red and a green accent. Collages would add much needed texture to your space. Large frames are also required in a metal to match your fireplace. Keeping the colour palette simple, like I've done here, is the key.

Also you need what you use all the time at eye level you seem to have every day items on the bottom shelf. The middle two would be so much easier. I also feel it could be time for a big clean out. Empty everything from all shelves, I know its very time consuming but the only way to do it. Allow a whole day. Go through everything individually, put like items together. Keep baking items together, sauces, gravies etc. together, cereals together, snacks together. Work out if you need to buy some baskets or plastic containers for loose items that should go together. Once you start you will be on a roll. When finished you will wonder why you didn't do this before. Dont forget the timber steps, I think you can buy plastic ones also. I have also seen expanding racks that do the same. But I have found them to be a bit over priced. Don't forget to treat yourself after the good job you have done. Good luck