Hello Sophtherou, It may be that you have made all the changes but... One thing that would really bounce light back up the stairs is having a long mirror on the back of the front door. You can have plain mirrors following the banister rail going up the wall, either a long one or several.. For warm whites think of trying Little Greene Whitening or White Lead... You could paint the skirting a white white for contrast... Then if you wanted some accent walls, like a chimney breast or opposite wall or something, Portland Stone is a nice one for example.. It's quite a warm colour and would work well with the other suggestions.. Of course my suggestions may be redundant now, as you may have done everything already! : ))

I'm wondering about blocking in the bannisters with T&G which is in keeping with the doors in the cottage, plus getting a new handrail made in a mid coloured timber. I've painted most of the beams and "half timbered" exposed wood in an off white matte gloss, it's made the room a lot lighter .. past owners have just ladled on the thick black matte paint that seems to be de riguer ... we bought an Old Charm Dutch dresser off eBay, and I have a couple of old oak armchairs, plus a 1950's Cintique fireside chair. And the dining chairs are a hotchpotch of junk shop finds. I might try just painting the stairs in the same off white paint, see if that improves matters any.

You need to have a fire protected route. There are a few ways to do that. It is possible to create this as a more open plan look but it will be more expensive than just keeping the stair enclosed and having a door from the hall to the living/dining rooms. So it depends on your budget and how valuable it is to you to have that feel more open and spacious. Your options are: 1. enclose the staircase with adequate fire protecting walls and doors 2. open up and use a mechanical system to provide fire protection 3. enclose the staircase as in option 1 but use fire rated glass to the stair to give an open look. However fire rated glass is really expensive! If you want to go down a more complex fire protection route then I would recommend that you speak with a fire engineer who could design and spec the system for you. You might be able to use a fire blanket or a sprinkler system. I believe that the costs of sprinkler systems has come down a lot recently, and they do seem to be becoming more used in private residential, though still fairly unusual. I've not seen fire blankets used in houses, but I used to include them a lot in commercial and community building projects.

Hi Sonia you suggested black! And that was our original choice. It was a huge decision to go for green windows but we are very pleased with them. Hopefully they will look even nicer when the fascia is finished in green too. Thank you for your lovely comments re the garden. I love gardening and can't wait to sit in this room and look at the garden (with a backdrop of Italian Villas, or maybe wild flowers, or maybe birds!) :)