Here are 2 different ideas.

I'm with Jo DP, I wouldn't let her within a beagle's gowl (as my mother would have said) of any home of mine either. It would depend where I was living, I'm rather taken with Abigail Ahern at the moment but more for her quirky side than her addiction to VERY dark interiors. If I had the higher ceilings and huge windows that I long for we might be able to work together without arguing too much but I have to draw the line at an entire house painted black :D Or maybe Tricia Guild who has managed to consistently produce interiors that I drool over for more than a decade now but again I think some of that is down to the stunning homes she works with. To be honest I have such strong, and varied, opinions about design that I would be a nightmare client and would probably drive most well known designers to drink and I certainly wouldn't trust the judgement of some celebrity, they'd probably drive me to drink....

The only flies in the ointment are;-Why is the L shaped wall still staying between lounge and kitchen? I presume it's for structural reasons, but you shouldn't need L shaped surely? I would strongly suggest that you see if this can be amended. Just one as a support for a steel which I presume is overhead between old lounge and dining room. Also, you don't need two windows in the kitchen, it's taking up wall space in a quite small area. Therefore, dispose of the window on the side to give you a chance for more cupboards and a better layout. Putting doors in on the kitchen side is nice to mirror the other side, but it depends again on the kitchen layout and what you can get in there. Hopefully with the amendments above you may then be able to put bi-fold internal doors across the lounge / diner where the stairs are as per plan below, this gives you the option to zone off.

exterior , windows ,walls of country house design