The fireplaces in the bedrooms are decorative. Living room is a real open fire and the study (with the wooden fireplace surround) has been converted to gas. We were lucky to acquire three of the fireplaces from the house directly across the road. They cost £500 which I thought was a bargain until I realised they would cost me £2,500 to restore them! The wooden surround was in the house when we bought it and we had to buy the cast iron insert. The surround is actually mahogany, I'm not actually that keen on it but couldn't bring myself to rip it out! I would get to know the neighbours and see what original features they have in their houses. Be careful with architectural salvage, for example salvaged doors if you need them have often been dipped in acid and the glue joints tend to fail after a while. We employed a conservation architect to restore the house and I felt his design was one which would stand the test of time. We had folding doors in our last house. These timber doors are bespoke made and look/feel quality. Just a bit more sophisticated.

It depends on how you use the room and which room the door leads into, I think. If you use this as the main sitting room/lounge I would be tempted to just put vertical panels to close it up, so you can store whatever under the stairs, and put the TV above the fireplace instead. If you do bifold doors I think you can get away with mounting the TV on one of the panels and the door can open in a way that won't bother the Tv. I have something similar in my new build, but the developers did not use the full length under the stairs so the storage 'room' is rather small. I use the remaining of the space outside to put an American fridge freezer (under stairs space is inside my kitchen diner.)

Definitely a dressing room for me! We have just bought a new house and we never intended a 4 bedroom home but found one that ticked all the other boxes we wanted that we could actually afford. We don't need that many bedrooms so I'm nicking the smallest for myself as a dressing room. Hubby gets the downstairs study to himself to get his geek on within so it's all above board! The small bedroom is not attached to either my bedroom or a bathroom (it's across the hall) but it's a start. I will admit there is lots to do when we move but I daydream mostly about this room and cannot wait to have my own private space. Not just for clothes and make up but to do things like journal and listen to music and decorate all for just myself!

When concept planning a project like this I start with tracing over the plan and marking each of the more expensive elements to move - like structural walls/columns and drainage. This helps as you start with a much clearer plan. Then consider views, sunlight, movement patterns, sizes and configurations of fixtures and fittings, etc... Draw bubbles/blocks over the top of the clear plan for the different activities you'd like to accommodate - you can also cut these out of bits of paper so you can move them about and play with them until you get a configuration that you like. Hope this helps. We offer home design consultation workshops, when we visit homeowners in their homes and explore options, however, you are outside the areas we cover. You will get a much better layout if you get some professional advice and if you want this to be your forever home then it's worth getting it right. There's nothing to be lost by giving a few of your local architects a call for a chat.