You can 'skim' bricks by way of cutting them down with a disc cutter/angle grinder. You could take 10-15mm off the face of the brick, stick it onto the concrete lintel with suitable adhesive and then point up with mortar but the bricks will stand proud. Now that's OK if you have the equipment to hand and you feel confident to at least give it a go and if that being the case then it's be pretty cheap to do. If you rely on a tradesman doing it then there's no point as it's a lot of 'faffing' that will end up costing a fortune in labour. If I were to do it I might even take out 10-20mm of the lintel with an angle grinder and chisel and then fit the slips flush but you'd have to take care not to damage the lintel or take too much away. I think you might be safe with a third of the width, similar to the amount you can overhang a brick. Again, a fair amount of work, especially up a ladder! If you get the window company to attach a fascia panel then it would be in-keeping with the new window materials and the current eaves materials. It should be cheap anyway. If, for example, you were replacing the windows with a grey aluminium contemporary window then they might need taking out, but you're going to put in white framed windows that aren't to dissimilar to what you have already so with that being the case I'd personally just save all the hassle and keep the lintels. Out of interest - what have neighbouring properties done or do they all have the same concrete lintel?

Like Sam I have original floorboards. The boards are nailed to a frame, and downstairs there is just a gap of about 1 foot between the floorboards and the soil below! However, I think you could get a carpenter to lay a solid floor onto the subframe, as has been laid in older houses like mine for hundreds of years. So yes, floorboards can be attached to the joists. That way the floor can be one level throughout the house. It may be a little bit draughty but I think it will be the best option for you. Accessibility is the key I would imagine, not noise levels or drafts.

It depends……. The cost of remodelling could be the same upheaval as moving and cost the same. You need to think about what your house doesn’t do, how much it would cost to renovate your house, and consider if the perfect house exists and if is possible to buy in your budget.

I don’t know anything about carpeting stairs, but wouldn’t the carpet fitting mark the wood? We had a solid oak staircase fitted 8 years ago and it’s still looking good - no marks or knocks that I can tell. We used 2 coats of Osmo oil on it. Just beware that treatments such as this can change the colour & oak can age to be a bit orangey coloured. I wish I’d treated ours with a lighter coloured Osmo oil rather than the standard, so research carefully according to the look you’re after.