Hello all! Recently moved into a mid 1800s cape style cottage and are hoping to install built-in bookshelves with lower cabinetry around this fireplace. The fireplace is mostly flush with the wall, which is proving to be a bit of a challenge. Should the lower cabinetry extend all the way to the edge of the raised hearth, or perhaps just to the far-edge of the mantle?

Most images I’ve seen have the fireplace set out further than the shelving flanking either side, but there’s just not much room to do that. The wall on the right side of the fireplace is an exterior wall with the oil tank right up next to it. The left wall lines up with the closet in our only spare room, and since this house is extremely tiny we don’t feel great about losing much storage space...

We’re planning to keep a blank space about mid-level to the right side of the fireplace to mount the television, so would love cabinetry beneath that to house DH’s gaming consoles, etc; while the left side would be primarily shelving for my outlandish collection of books. I can’t decide if I should do matching lower cabinetry on both sides, or solely on the right side, doing floor to ceiling shelving on the left (and possibly extending the shelving all the way around the doorway until it’s flush with the opposing wall on the left side).

Other things to note... the AC will be removed, of course. Paint colors are to be determined, though I am enjoying the soft yellow, the green in the entryway will be changing, and possibly some half-wall dividers going up to separate that area a bit, visually speaking. Most of the furniture will be changing - we are hoping to furnish solely with antiques, we might expose the old beams in the ceiling, and are just generally trying to add back a lot of the historic charm that’s been stripped from this house over the years.

We do really love the fireplace and won’t be changing any aspects of it - so we’re just looking for any advice on how to work around it.

Thank you for all your help!!