We've just bought a 1960's home that we plan to update and make more efficient. Currently all the living space is upstairs; we'd love to create a kitchen/dining/living space downstairs for general comfort and to enable us to access the garden more easily for outdoor meals/entertaining (see attached floorplan for the ground floor). I've lost a lot of sleep over this; whenever I feel that I've solved one issue I seem to create another challenge! It would be great to make more of the large entry, which comes at the expense of other space. All the walls downstairs are load-bearing, so it isn't easy to remove them. For instance, a large supporting beam rests on top of the wall separating the entry from what is labelled on the plan as the rumpus room and runs across the house (through the rumpus room, entry and garage, around a third of the way into the space. There is another set of beams doing the same thing in the next third of the space; we may be able to retain a pillar, if not remove the wall entirely). The plan hasn't been drawn accurately and doesn't show the large window near the front door; this means that it isn't possible (within our budget) to create a new wall here. We may be able to cut a window into the wall (obviously while supporting the structures above). This would add visual space, but wouldn't contribute to better placement of furniture. We'd like to maximise access to light - the back of the house faces north-east, so it would be good to open up at this point (where the laundry and other back door is). Also, I want to retain a downstairs toilet. I'm happy to move the toilet but unfortunately it won't fit under the stairs because of the concrete "pad" for the turning section of the staircase. This is half-way up the wall - maybe at around 1500mm? Your suggestions are most welcome!