To answer your questions:
YES, I don't have kids. My sister and brother in law live in the apartment downstairs with their 3 y-o daughter and their 1-y-o son and it's been childproofed beyond recognition
YES, I've been planning to buy a couple of armchairs for the fireplace but the money always seem to go somewhere else in the end :P Like maybe the garden project secret stash!
YES, I know plants hate central heating radiators and fireplaces. However I overcome this by watering a tad more, so that there's an excess of water which evaporates and creates a microclimate with higher humidity. For instance, yesterday it read 45% and 24C near the bonsai, which is perfect and rather unusual for a spot near the fireplace. I do the same for my orchids which are now kept inside, near the radiator but with a higher reservoir (all in s/h). I had even tried keeping moss on top of the pots which I kept moist, but keeping moss moist and keeping the plant moist are 2 different things. I ended up having either a correctly moist pot with dead moss or a plant on the brink of root rot with perfectly moist moss!!
YES, I've tried misting but it didn't work for me...it needed a lot more water. I grew tired of misting with a spray bottle for 15 mins and a sore index finger.
Thank you all for your kind words. I try to keep it simple here in my house, as in my experience more clutter = more things to dust and move around when cleaning! I know that minimalistic set up will have to go when we have kids...but what if I just babyproof the kids instead of the house? :P