I have Windows floor to ceiling both ends of my lounge and only one complete empty wall the opposite wall ,has large double doors with small walls each side. I find small pieces of furniture more suited to keep the feeling of light and space. I purchase a large sofa with a chaise end totally took up to much space and looked awful.

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Hi Debbie and kikiamack, you're right that it does come with problems, e.g. banging your head on the ceiling when changing sheets and getting up there for story time. Re. banging heads, we found that practice was key. My wife and I had a high sleeper double bed in Amsterdam when we first met and we were used to that bit if it, in fact it brought back very fond memories having another one in the house! Regarding sheet changing, we trained (bribed) our kids to learn how to do that themselves, but I agree it aint' the easiest thing to do. Re. story time, the worst bit was falling asleep up there and having to clamber back down again later. The upside is that you have almost the entire floor still to use. With your layout, you'd have great opportunities to (for example) build in a step ladder and trapdoor in one of the recessed bits of wall next to the chimney breast. I'll have a go at drawing a possible solution onto the plan you posted, and I'll look for old photos. My son is now grown up and using the room again (just back from uni) and the room is too messy to photograph! Watch this space...

Quite right, the Rimu doors are pretty awful! They do indeed go right throughout the house. Unfortunately this is an extreme budget makeover so I can’t afford to replace them. Even looking at the cost of a new set of handles was a bit of a shock! I literally have $27 in the bank so a couple of testpots for a feature wall is about it... I could paint them in but I’m a bit wary of painting wood because of the effort to strip them back if it’s terrible, & I think doing them the same color as the wall would unbalance things, & make it look a bit messy with the 3D texture of it in one big area of dark paint? Interesting idea to paint the pelmet the same as the curtains, I would never have thought of that! Eventually I was thinking of replacing them with some lighter or warmer coloured ones but that’s an idea. The only thing I wonder is if it might look a bit out of place when the curtains are drawn aside? What was your original idea about the overhang of dark paint above the door on the right?