Well you certainly have a GREAT sofa to start with - love it! There are so many directions you can go in with this sofa color and a green chair. I think before you do anything else you should have a color plan, a guide too direct you. I created an app called Color911. ( find out more about it at Color911.com) You can create your own palette of colors OR take/find a photo of something that inspires you and pull the colors from it.. or check out the color themes. Within the app are many pre-made color themes that are colors that all work beautifully together. You can choose any number of colors within a theme and use the colors for everything from wall color to accent colors to colors .. you name it. I have been an award winning color consultant and have authored two best selling books on color. I created the color themes myself. If you find a theme that inspires you it can be great fun to shop for anything when you have the theme to use as your guide. Each of the themes are different. I attached a color theme that has neutrals to match your sofa and green for your chair. There were many different themes within the Color911 app that matched this requirement, this is just one of them. I hope it inspires you!

Depends on your budget. When we got our first home in 1971 we didn't expect to have all the best of everything straight away, we were handed down odd chairs etc. from various members of the family and a dining table and chairs too. As the house wasn't brand new, we paid the previous owner for their carpets and Venetian blinds, I made new curtains and we did buy a new bed. We didn't get a tv for about 18 months and then it was a secondhand black and white one. Whatever you do, remember getting into debt, just so you can have everything you want before you know what you really need, is not a good idea. Your taste could change before you have paid off the loan! If you are a fantastically wealthy person, then ask an interior designer to help you, whatever you do, remember to enjoy yourself and you don't have to overspend to do that either.

I'd do exactly as Jonathan has done on the ground floor. The first floor can be re-configred in a miriad of ways depending on whom you wish to afford it to ie;- The boys and the Nanny, I'd still try for 3 bed, and En-Suite and a main bathroom. I think that whomever is using it, then you'll need an En-Suite either for yourselves or your Nanny. So something like this may work well. The loft is a whole different kettle of fish. 2 metres is okay - you can stand up in there. I'd certainly get rid of the pointless utility room and turn it over to storage as you have 3 boys, you're bound to need quite a bit. It's possible that you could re-arrange the entrance slightly and donate the long thin area over to a playroom, giving them more space to play indoors.

What fuel does it use? It looks like the property was extended and the utility room added in that took a chunk of the original ‘middle’ room. I would remove it altogether and, if you feel you really need a fireplace, put in an electric one just for appearance, or add in a biofuel fire (which are lovely and don’t produce fumes) for a real flame as they can be placed anywhere, even on a table top. I took a modern electric fire out of my last home and didn’t miss it at all because the wall was then taken up with furniture and tv. That’s also worth considering. When I sold it nobody noticed there was no fireplace at all