Creative wall decoration, give you a warm and sweet family.

It looks like there is a window between Living and Reception? Could this be extended to make a door-height panel of glass to at least provide light and views through the house? You could replace the door between the rooms with a glass door and then you'll open it all up visually but with minimal work really. Looks like there is a pillar just inside the Reception though, presumably to suport the stairs, so maybe it's weird to open up view and see that though. Also, be careful about losing character by adding glass door - it's a good idea for light/views but might take away from the character of the house if it's got original wooden doors throughout. Otherwise I say embrace the rooms in their original proportions, at least until you do side return extension - but you'll still have the little front Living room so make the most of it. Depending on whether you have kids and their ages, I'd suggest making the Living room into a TV-free snug, with couple of small sofas or one sofa and one or two comfy chair(s) - keep the size of furniture in proportion to the room, have legs on the sofa/chairs so you can see more floor space, have a big rug to zone the seating area - keep a 'hallway' free running from front door through to Reception, to visually separate the seating/snug from the throughway. Try and get some clever storage solutions for this entryway - slim console table, hooks for coats, but try and keep everything neat and simple so it doesn't get cluttered and make the room feel even smaller. Use big mirror somewhere to maximise light and open up the space. If you don't need a TV-free snug then perhaps have a table and chairs in the Living room? Could be for dinner parties if you ever have them and/or for messy arts/crafts if you have kids - or just a spot for kids to do homework or someone to work from home. Similar to the TV-free snug, it might just be a lovely room that doesn't actually get used that much other than as a hallway, but it looks nice and gives the impression that you could host a dinner party or have friends over for coffee and have somewhere nice to sit - and quite often that is worth having even if you always end up standing in the kitchen chatting to everyone who visits! Other option is to turn Living room into a really lovely hall/entryway and get it kitted out as such - storage for anything and everything that comes into the house, somewhere to sit and put on and take off shoes, small desk/filing system for dealing with mail, noticeboard for house/kid/school admin, pet stuff, build in utility cupboard and hide washer/dryer behind cabinet doors. Given that it's your front door entrance you'd want it to be neat and tidy and everything to have a space, but no reason why it can't also be a lovely room to enter into. And turning the stair to enter from this space would make sense too. I am seeing it with wood panelling and Shaker pegs, fitted bench seating and fitted cupboards, all in a warm deep colour, round vintage rug on the floor, with views through open doorway to something lighter and more modern ahead. Any of those options leaves you with Reception as TV room/lounge, and dining table in kitchen for dining - with possibility of side return to open all that up later to provide large open plan space.

Have a look on Pinterest, they have lots of ideas.

Jonathan that design is 10/10 thank you. We hadnt thought about making the kitchen that big, it looks great. we will have to see what we can do about the window in bedroom 2 because the new wall would split it in two. ive just marked that up here, and ive also added where the eaves are, which start at abour waist height, and where the ceileing starts to slope down on the right.