Living room (adjoining dining/kitchen)

by Des
(Waterford, Ireland)

Room adjoins dining/kitchen......open plan(ish). Dimensions 20ft x 15ft (living room section.

1) From a technical perspective (location of chimney breast) we are advised that the fireplace would best be located at the narrow end of the room (see attached section of layout plan).

2) From the perspective of creating a focal point to the living space it might be located to the right wall (i.e. backing on to the entrance hall)being the wider.

As regards 1) we are concerned that we might find it difficult to create an easy living space given that the focal point (presuming the fireplace would be such.....could it be otherwise??) would be at the far (narrow) end of the room. That said the location of the chimney from the front external elevation would look better (more discreet).

Option 2) on the other hand would make for the easier creation of the internal layout (we think!)but the chimney would look less comfortable on the outside (more 'in your face').Also, we would like to retain some sort of feature structure between the dining/kitchen and the living space without closing it off.

I hope this gets across our dilemma and any advice would really be appreciated. Thanks:)

P.S. Trying to attach images below but not sure if succeeding!