Hi Kate. We have three children under 8 so are in a similar position to you. If it was my house I would..... In response to your first question, a 33ft x 14ft open plan room would not necessarily be too big, but it would leave you without a downstairs utility or WC. As tamp75 has commented, a hallway is good for isolating noise to upstairs bedrooms, and you need somewhere for coats, bags, shoes etc. With three storeys, having the kitchen open to the hall may create problems with building regulations (fire safety). I'm not an expert in this area but it should be considered. 2. I would definitely reposition the cloakroom. It looks like the drainage to your house will be on the right hand side of the plan, so I would not put the WC under the stairs. Something like Jonathan's second suggestion would work well. 3. I would create a utility room, but only a small one. Large enough to hold a washing machine and tumble drier (stacked to save space), sink and some storage. If you can get hold of a copy of George Clarke's Home Bible he has a whole chapter devoted to utility rooms - it is well worth a read. 4. I would reconfigure the property in a similar manner to Jonathan's second suggestion. The only minor changes would be to move shorten the hall slightly by bringing the entrance to the kitchen level with the stairs, and possibly reconfigure the area for utility/WC/cloaks. I recommend retaining the first floor living room as it stops the house feeling too 'top heavy' and could be a really good family space. 5. It's hard to answer this without knowing more about you. I think it might be possible to have a kitchen, seating area and dining area but I suspect that you might have to make some compromises. You have the potential to create two lounges elsewhere in the house, so I would compromise on the seating area. Given the scale of this project I would take my time to consider all of the options. I think it is definitely worth spending a few £100s on a concept planner as they could save you £1000s in the long run. Good luck.

Jonathan, I really like your idea. I think you are right about the structural wall. But the wall behind the little toilet is a stud wall! The east window in the hall allows in natural light so I think I should keep it. Building on your idea, how about this version? In this scenario, we re-instate the south facing bedroom door so that there is one less door on the east side. As per Jonathan's idea, we create a shower room from the bedroom in the north-east corner. Does it flow? Dear Houzzers, please share your wisdom . :) Where is the best place for the shower room door: where it is now or in the little corridor? Will you feel claustrophobic in the corridor because it is just over 90cm wide and has walls on both sides? What is the ideal side of that shower room? If take out 1.5m from the bedroom, I get a 2.5 x 2.5m square bedroom/study and a 2.3 x 1.5m shower room. Will these sizes work for shower room and study/bedroom? Thanks a million.

Following on from J's comment about the extractor, if you have the budget and prefer open plan, you should install an external duct extractor... How about installing a sleek glass/top quality wood sliding doors in the partition so you can choose whether to open out the layout or not? The design you choose might be influenced by where your dining table will go. In the kitchen, or in the bedroom that adjoins the lounge (ie creating a full dining room) , or in the lounge? Or, maybe you don't use a dining table... If you are going to carry out expensive work, you need to be sure about how you're going to use the spaces. Once you've knocked through two rooms you've effectively lost a room, but I can understand that if the lounge and kitchen are very small then joining them up would give a very helpful sense of greater space.

Considering the level of work that you are considering you might be better off looking for a bigger house.