With such a generous space you have the real opportunity to achieve a very elegant space. Of course, what can be achieved depends on budget, But this is what we would suggest: - re-condition the stairs, with better, lighter balusters, newel posts, a proper curled bottom step - Install a large lantern in place of the chandelier - replace the fireplace surrounds with something less crude and render; render or line its inner walls; recess the hearthstone; add a large mirror above the mantel, which will reflect the light of the lantern. - Paint all timber: the balusters, the double doors - if you paint the flat panel radiator the same colour of the wall and the double doors a contrasting colour, the radiator will become less noticeable. Radiator covers often draw more attention to it and dramatically cut down the radiator's efficiency, defeating the point twice. - White is not the only way: consider a warm gray or even a colour for the walls. Use contrast to your advantage. It will help to draw people's attention to what you want them to see (lantern, fireplace, stairs, double doors) and away from what you don't want them to notice (radiator) Here are some examples we have recently completed:

Thank you - it’s already been dug out and I’ve added a mix of crazy paving down the centre with a large pot in the middle (with a cordyline in) and plum slate chippings for now. I’m really hoping that any bluebells can’t get through the 2 layers of heavy duty weed barrier and the stones, ha ha. If they do then I can just pull the sheets back and remove them. Yes there is a budlea by the canopy and I keep trimming it down so it stays fairly short for now until I find an alternative plant to put there that’s not so tall and likes sun (evergreen preferably) The left side with the large cordyline (seems to be dying off - is this normal in autumn??) has had a good clear out and I’ve also planted a palm and red cordyline type bush along with some other tropical feeling evergreens. Seemed a shame to remove it right now.

HI Nick. Yes you're right Shahina did write that about French doors. I was stuck on the bi-folds in to the Hallway looking slightly cumbersome. I'm was sure that somebody wrote about fire doors, but I can't see it, maybe it was a different post ( i read a lot ). Best to check with the local building control department as I believe your property is a top floor flat ( if the hallways leads to the stairs ), therefore, I think there are regulations that might need adhering to. This comes from an article at :- Arma.Org.UK " Replacement or removal of internal flat doors and internal layout alterations; Like flat entrance doors, certain doors inside your flat i.e. the kitchen door, or if you live in a maisonette all the doors between a room and your staircase, are also fire doors. Their purpose is to prevent a fire from spreading from the room it started within, to another room and to stop the fire and smoke preventing you from leaving your flat. As such if you want to remove or replace any internal doors or alter the layout of your flat in any way, you must attain building control and [the Landlords], so we can ensure that the work you want to carry out won’t prevent you being able to escape if a fire starts in your home. If the work you plan to do includes any work which will involve knocking or drilling a hole in any wall, floor or ceiling i.e. to install a flue or run any cabling, we also need to ensure that the integrity of the wall, floor or ceiling is reinstated. So in the event of a fire, in your flat, your neighbours or the communal area, that the fire and smoke aren’t able to pass through the hole into another part of the building. " The above may change what you can and can't have. The whole point of the false wall for the pocket door was that it was hidden inside the kitchen and therefore would not change the facade of the Hallway. Putting the false wall in the Hallway wouldn't work well in your property as it has period features all round. I put in the french doors that may or may not work and went with this as an alternative plan. Although you don't get the average 'walk room' of 1m around the little island ( you get around 80cm), the island is on wheels and contains two stools, so it's very versatile. I had in mind something like this, although i have seen albeit far more stylish ones available, just didn't have that much time to go googling! The washing machine is under the drainer of the sink. This gives you the impression of a more spacious kitchen as without the butchers block on wheels the space between surfaces is around 1.8m

Hi! Nice big extension. There are a lot of structural alterations going on there. You could potentially reduce costs and get a similar set of spaces with a few adjustments that minimise the structural changes. A few things I'm wondering: 1. the huge cupboard off the TV area in the family room, would that door get in your way if later on you wanted to put in a larger sofa, perhaps a corner sofa partially along that wall? Is the TV area the place that you need the storage coming off or would it be better for that to be off the playroom to store toys in? It's worth thinking about what you plan to store in there. There seems to be quite a big new structural opening to make this and I wonder if that is an unnecessary cost, where you could either have toy storage off the playroom or just make the playroom bigger. Obviously it depends on what you plan to store in there and where you need to access it from to use it. 2. If you either made that big cupboard part of the playroom or accessible from the playroom then you could omit the structural opening and push the toilet back, then access it via a cloakroom. This would mean that you could open up the space under the stair so that it feels much bigger and that window under the stair will let light into the hallway. This would also reduce the number of doors in the hallway by 1. (I don't think the number of doors is a big issue, but if it bothers you then you could do this) Then you could also push the utility room wall back to the original line of the previous wall and make it a bit bigger, which will make it easier and more comfortable to use, and potentially save you demolition and rebuild of some wall. 3. The porch is tiny. There are benefits to having a porch, but this size of porch will be really uncomfortable to use. I would either get rid of the porch. Or make the porch bigger and change the configuration a bit, maybe by having the inner door to the right hand side and then you have a wall that you could put some bench seating and shoe storage combined along, if you are the type of family that prefers to remove shoes at the door / in the hall. Check out building regulations doc M for sizes of an accessible porch type area to give you an idea of how you might improve this porch and make it easier and more comfortable to get through. Hope these ideas help.