I see this is a very old thread , with lots of comments . I've just skim read them , but I haven't seen anyone suggest anything like my 'top-of-my-head' idea -- I love the wood , and the white contrast , but pretty boring . Whats your favourite colour , or what ties in with the other rooms ? It might be blue or red or yellow or orange or green , as examples . So paint the skirting board and around the door a pastel shade of your choice , and add a small 30cm x 30cm abstract painting featuring that colour as the primary dominant one , above ( or possibly below , or maybe even get 2 matching/complementary ones ) the control panel . One lighting crowd suggested glass shades -- I'd actually go for someothing large but wooden , in much the same shade as your floors and steps , with LED bulbs -- you can get some stunning ones around 80-100 cm in diameter ( sort of a star ball shape ) for $300-400 . Total budget then $500 plus a painter and maybe electrician , unless you DIY .

Whilst I love the idea of the narrow pull out spice cupboard the heat will destroy them so close to the oven and it's expensive replacing them all the time. I'd be thinking a pull out for cutting boards or tea towel racks or even trays there. The space next to the wine bottles seems to be wide enough for two wine bottles but hard to say without measurements. If so I'd extend the wine rack and box up the untidy space in front of the support.

I have confess I got a little lost in your question, but I can offer my advice. I try to have the least number of blinds as possible, of course the blinds need to fit into the manufacturers size tolerences and some common sense comes into play too. If you need multiple blinds across a very large window and want to avoid multiple chains to operate the blinds, motorization is always an option (hard wired or battery operated). For stacking slider doors, I usually have a smaller blind over the main door opening and a larger blind over the balance (as I find the smaller door opening is used more frequently, and access is better this way). I prefer having the blinds meet over the windows mullions (rather then over the glass) to offer the most privacy possible as the blinds will have a gap between them. I hope this helps you.

May I suggest that you look up the NCC Volume 2 which specifies the safety design parameters for stairs and balustrades. Any new work done on stairs and balustrades must comply with the code. You need to look up sections 3.9.1 and 3.9.2 In summary, whatever method you look to you can't be able to pass a 125mm sphere through any part of the stair or balustrade. It also specifies the design parameters for wire balustrades to achieve the 125mm sphere rule. The design challenges for stairs are significant if you want the open back tread look. The easiest way is to install a block on the underside of the tread level with the back edge of the tread below. This way you can still have an open tread and achieve compliance. The harder problem occurs when using a wire balustrade and the resolving the gap that occurs between the treads and the lowest wire. I have seen several installations of late where the 125mm rule was very clearly not achieved. One was a very recent build and I'm still not sure how it passed the final inspection. The images from Miami Stainless show how this can be achieved. Clearly the best and most secure is the glass balustrade and the vertical bar balustrade. Good luck!