Hi OldBeanbagz. Thanks for the reply. We use the room to the right of the front door as a playroom but it could be another reception room but yes it is just accessed from the back so isn't used enough and seems very separate from the rest of the house. There is room to put a doorway into it from the bottom of the stairs, but I'm not sure if you have to have a certain distance from the bottom step and a door.
We had thought of putting a wall at the bottom of the hallway, but I'm not sure what we would gain from this. It wouldn't make the hallway any bigger and would mean you can only access the living room from the kitchen.
Yes I agree that opening up from kitchen to hallway is not a good idea. But we maybe we could swap the single kitchen door for double kitchen doors to make the hallway seem more spacious?
There are actually 3 back doors all next to each other at the back of the house. One double door in the living room which was a window, the original back door off the living room, and a door from the workshop area. Yes I think we need to make the back workshop area bigger but keep a loo and utility (somehow).
Just trying to add some more photos so you can see what on earth I'm on about... and trying to make the floor plans bigger.
Basically, the house started off as a 3 bedroom house with an attached garage, then a 2 storey side extension was built where the garage was (and behind it). It looks like the ground floor side extension was built as an annexe with a downstairs bathroom (with enough space I presume for wheelchair access) for a granny flat or lodger.
Does anyone know how much it would cost roughly to knock through (and replaster etc) from kitchen to living room and make a doorway at the bottom of the stairs? I'm hoping we won't need RSJs...