Alcoves are done!  They’ve built them exactly as I wanted, leaving space along the left hand side wall where the Kallax units will go, and an equal space along the right.  For anyone in school being fed up doing maths, can I just say that a LOT of measuring and calculations have gone into building these alcoves!  We don’t have equal space on either side of the fireplace, so the question was whether to have identical alcoves and different sizes of space along the walls, or equal space on the walls and different sizes of alcoves.

For questions like this I rely heavily on expert opinion, and my builder recommended having alcoves that will be the same size.  This will be more pleasing on the eye, apparently.  So all the measurements were worked out and drawn onto the walls.

Then we remembered the mantelpiece.  Oops!  We had to adjust slightly to make sure we have enough space around the fire for the mantelpiece, so that affected the alcove sizes.

Just a wee note on the mantelpiece.  It’s dark wood which won’t necessarily match the oak desk and shelves, and I had originally thought of getting rid of it, and replacing it with a plain white mantelpiece instead.  But once again I was advised that it’s an original feature, so I’d feel really bad letting it go.  It’ll stay for now, but I’m still occasionally tempted to paint it white.  Who knows what the future will hold?!