For a "couple of days a year" get a pedestal fan straight on everyone and leave the features in the ceiling. Seriously...I have 12 ceiling fans in my house and two wall mounted fans...the wall mounted fans are so much more effective then ceiling (and I don't know where you live, but did you know fans have a "summer" and "winter" setting??). Most people don't. Tip: turn the fan off before changing the setting.

This looks like a pretty good start but keep in mind that you already have a lot of hard surfaces (tiles floor, stone benches etc) that are going to bounce a lot of sound around that space. The big trick with open-plan living is to try to keep the ambient sound levels muffled and soft. Make sure that you put nice soft felt floor protectors on the feet of everything – you don't want to hear each time a chair or stool is dragged across the tiles. Don't even think of adding a glass-topped table to the mix – every time a glass is put down, a plate is shifted or cutlery moved it clinks and bangs (not to mention that they are the very devil to keep spotlessly clean and shiny and if they're not they look horrible). A timber table does not have to look 'woody' or clash with (or match) the floors – timber can be painted or stained and there are some very classy looking laminates out there that are easier to live with than glass. As others have said some rugs defining the zones within this large room will help to soften both the look and the sound, as well as introduce some colour. I also find the spacing of the pendant lights rather clunky – try spacing lights across the island rather than stringing them out across the full width of the ceiling.

Hi new to all this but thought I'd pass on some fan tips; Be very selective of the shape of the fan blades. They all look stylish but in my experience the flatter the blade the less air they move. We have now gone back to the original metal fans with the blades that bend at the edge, http://regencyfan.com/industrial, our fans are more stylish than the one shown (the blade shape is nice and clear in this example). Our weather in no where near as warm as yours I'd hate for you to make the same mistake we made, twice, before we learnt. Look at the fans motor size, some of the expensive and lots of the cheap ones have small motors that don't last long, unfortunately price does not dictate quality in this case so don't get caught out. My husband is a mechanic and this is one of his "things" when every we shop for electrical items (drills, fans, pumps etc.) always make sure the motor is quality and large enough to do the job and last. How may speeds. We have 8 fans in our home, one is in our extension and was purchased at a different time; It's low speed is realllllllly slow the next one is so fast it's like a cyclone and I'm not game to try the third one in case it dismounts from the ceiling. Be careful not to mount fans too close to down lights or you get a flickering effect caused by the blade passing over the light. Try not to mount the fan directly over the dining table as it will cause food to go cold. I'm with mydesignobsession when it comes to style/look I prefer visitors see my wonderful eclectic decoration then my ceiling fans! Good luck

If you don't want to settle for either colour shade (dark or light) you can always do a mix: frame of your storage light and have the inside of the shelves is dark or the other way round to match your existing furniture. You could even go and make it a great feature wall. Maybe some the images below will give some inspiration. Another option is to "frame" the fire place area by putting some fire safe material behind and under (maybe in the exact height of your black sideboard on the left wall). Storage could be mounted to upper half of the wall. I'd probably try to leave the storage half "open" since the fireplace is kind of freestanding.