I helped my Dad build a fire pit in his garden, he made wooden seats to sit around the metal fire pit with old stone columns for extra seating (unfortunately you can't see the actual fire-pit as behind the stone bench). Lots of stories and fun are had around it until deep into the night. If you have the space it is a great addition to put in! Shannon

Oh - those hallways are better finished and decorated than some of the rooms we live in Here goes - floor is flag-stone tiles, set in a diagonal pattern. Lovely to look at - nightmare to clean. Half-painted, half timber panelled walls. A small pillar on which hangs all our holy objects - from holy water font ( Vatican), hand-made St Brigid's cross (school), stained class crucifix (Lourdes), Holy Family brass ornament (Knock), Hannukkah menorah (from north London). A beautiful hand-crafted coat rack, designed and made by my 16yr old for Woodwork exam. Here hangs that one-size-fits-all anorak that ended up in the back of the car some years ago and has never been reclaimed. Everyone can use it so no excuse about getting wet or cold when asked to go out to car or out to bin or bring in/put out cat dishes. A myriad of sets of keys that only each owner knows what they are for. Various school-bags, lunch boxes, kit-bags, boots, helmets, hurley sticks, badminton rackets, wellies, hob-nail boots take up temporary residence in the hall until the house-fairy offers to put them away for their owners ie throw them outside the front door where she can't trip over them (amazing how quickly the owners find a proper home for their goods under the threat of a night outside!) A second-hand side board that currently houses family photographs and trophies etc on top and a motley mix of household bills, badminton subscriptions and accounts, Greeting cards and writing paper and other stationery (no biros tho!) a drawer full of hats, caps, scarves, gloves, hi-vis jackets and dog leads. A lovely print of my home county which has 1920 b+w postcards of my town mounted around it. Then there is the oil PAINTING. It is a version of 3 Spirited Horses in a Storm. It is 6ft wide, 3ft high. Has a distinctive lack of colour - brown, cream + khaki - dust colours. OH dug it out of a skip in London in 1988 + delightedly rushed home to hang it in our abode. Except we lived in a 1-bed flat and didn't have any straight wall long enough to hang it on! Undeterred he hung it on the stair-wall. So no option but to look at it. It has followed us ever since and I am heartedly sick of the sight of it. Cannot get him to part with it. How I wish it could get damaged somehow .... Any suggestions ....?

@Laura took the words right from underneath my fingers. I was going to ask the depth and width of the area where the shelves currently are. I've just had a PAX installed and I LOVE IT. My configuration is Two sets of 2 x 100cm wide (236cm H) units with the Harvik doors. I had them shortened as my ceiling didn't allow for the full height hence why I picked the easily hackable Harvik. The easy option is 4 x 75cm units with sliding doors of course. In one of my units, the inside was wallpapered and has a standard shelf which my monitor rests on and a pull out shelf directly below it that I use as a desk. I even have power in there so the cables are neat. the Pax really are an outstanding solution. A word of advice though to avoid extra expense and wasted time, especially if you are having someone install them; check them as soon as they arrive as the units can be damaged Good luck and pictures please :)

Hi Mr Mr, that clarifies things. It would seem that if you go ahead with stairs from the hall then you will lose the smallest bedroom upstairs, presumably currently occupied by the youngest in the family? If so, then do you intend moving them downstairs or will you take the plunge and move yourselves into a new master bedroom downstairs? What will happen to the existing landing at the top of the stair from the dining room - could it be used to replace the lost bedroom? Could it be incorporated into one of the other bedrooms? Could it become a study [if needed]? When we extended a few years ago we took the opportunity to merge two existing bedrooms to give one larger room. The new extension provided two more bedrooms and we 'lost' one other original bedroom to become a 'landing library' open to the staircase so, in effect, a large gallery. In this way we went from a conventional 4 bed to a much larger 4 bed plus library. The house is just so much more usable in its new format. You will usually find that upstairs walls are easily moved as they are non load bearing. However, I am sure most people would agree that you should make the house suit your needs. It is well worth sitting down with a pen and paper and listing what you'd really like to achieve from the building work. If you are planning on this being a long term home then I'd take this opportunity to 'future proof' the layout for you and your family. If you are looking for resale in the foreseeable future then investing the minimum amount to get your kitchen diner is probably the way forward. Either way, good luck. P.S. given a choice, I'd still keep the stairs away from the kitchen smells... but see what the consensus is from the Houzz community.