Hi, I was just looking at staircases for a project I am working on and came across the images of your hall and your post. I have read all the good comments but could not resist ... throwing a couple of things into the mix that you could consider (budget permitting) ... Oak Parquet flooring is lovely but sometimes the yellow tones often highlighted with sunlight and age affects the choices we make for the walls and banisters and we fancy a change. Replacing the floor would be expensive, however, a relatively cheap and easy option would be to employ a flooring company to sand your existing wood floors. They basically sand them back and then you can choose from a huge number of tones of wood that you would like them to stain/oil/varnish the floor. (It took my guys a couple of days to complete). With the floor in the tone you love... you can then look at the walls and banisters etc. I would recommend painting your current wood banisters that would offer a new look. You could paint the spindles and varnish/paint the banister in another colour i.e. black etc. I would potentially suggest painting the spindles in the same colour as the ceilings. In the F and B colour palette, they use strong white alongside Elephants breath, skimming stone and Dove Tail. I would paint the spindles/stair woodwork Strong White (estate eggshell) and the ceilings Strong White (matt emulsion). I would use the wallpaper you love on the ground floor in between all the doors for maximum effect and a cohesive look. Wallpaper would not take as much traffic on the ground floor walls as it would on the stairwell and could look fabulous. You would then paint the skirting boards , and door architraves in elephants breath, skimming stone , dove tail etc. (Modern Emulsion) Finally, the stair wall (opposite banisters) could either be painted in the same colour as the architrave/skirtings, or a complimentary colour from the palette (either Elephants breath, skimming stone, elephants breath etc.) (Modern Emulsion) Both options would look great. Modern Emulsion is good to use on the stair wall as you can easily wipe it down. Good luck with your refurb. :-)

Hi Heidi, Having just done such a project (and learnt a little from it...): Ceiling heights: minimum thickness of a floor is around 200mm/8" but some of that can be "reclaimed" below e.g. by leaving the joists exposed. Above is trickier because insulation requirements for the roof mean you can't really do that much there; the distance between the outer surface of the roof ridge and the inner ceiling will end up at least 250mm. Do your figures. Regarding the steelwork, there are lots of technical options to build this and "all of them may be right" as in (not) needing a ridge steel beam. Have you got an SE (structural engineer) spec for it? You can talk directly to steelworks fabricators about this. Builders tend to buy RSJs from specialist companies whose business it is to "sell steel made to size / spec" - steelworks fabricators. Some builders like to "cut&weld on site" because it saves them time but workshop welding and steel preparation tends to have more consistent quality and is preferred by structural engineers and/or insurance & building control (the latter often because of the fire risk for welding work on small sites). So this may be a case for more questions to the builder ("who's your steel fabricator and would you mind me talking to them?"), or a 2nd opinion by showing the plans to a fabricator and asking them for how they think this could/should best be built. The technical term is to request a "method statement" - how will the steelwork be made to conform to design, comply with structural spec & building regs and/or constraints of property deeds, and how will it be installed (to satisfy site insurance and Health& Safety regs, and/or other provisions e.g. from party wall awards/consents) ?" On the fire suppression system: building regs part B (fire safety, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/485420/BR_PDF_AD_B1_2013.pdf ) extensively talk about "means of escape" which usually are protected / made "safe" by the additional fire resistance hallway walls and fire-rated doors to the hallway/stairwell provide. Where you have open-plan, the guidance says (quote): "Alternatively, it may be possible to provide sprinkler protection to the open-plan area, [ ... long sequence of auxiliary requirements/explanations ... ]" And the devil is in the detail. Not the least because "sprinkler" isn't the same as "mist sprinkler" (let's not go there now, rabbit hole...). It's definitely worth pre-clearing the design / fire suppression method with building control, because once you start, having to "alter" later to put extra partitions in not only blows costs out but also kills the design. From my own experience - do not let the builder "just start" because ... they may hold _you_ to ransom if their (hidden) cost-saving provisions are felled by external agents/influences. With no roof on the building and neighbours breathing down your neck for potential damage or perceived risk, or building control refusing signoff unless major changes, you're in a pretty bad negotiation position. Building regs will pre-clear designs for you, possibly for a small fee. Good luck !

I would not advise painting it white, you will be grossed out with how much dirt it shows from people touching it (no matter how clean your hands are). This happened to me and I painted my bannister and spindles white and my newel post green to hide the hand marks. That's what I would recommend.

Provided the barn isn't listed, materials will depend on if you need PP or not. You may or may not have any PD rights depending on when the original conversion was done and under what authority (PP or PD). If you have PD rights I think you have to use similar materials. If you need PP the LPA may specify materials or require you to get them pre approved. Also, there will be other differences if you are in a conservation area or AONB.