Have you considered taking away the cavity door beside the stairs and open a section of the wall opposite the stairs to create a 2 way open ended shelving with some down light for displaying purposes? A series of full height vertical blade screening beside the shelving can then help add visual depth in the living room and still define the living room. It will also help frame the tv cabinetry with the existing nib wall on the other side. You will have minimal issues with reducing structural integrity of a potential load bearing wall. The existing fireplace is too nice to remove or make alterations to as it nicely divides dining with the living room.

When it comes to considering ideas for any kind of building project, the impact of budget to what you're trying to achieve is critical and the first thing to get a proper handle on. The various floor plan ideas are only valid if they align with budget. Budget limits should not be sidelined until down the track. In fact they can be utilised as a great way of guiding, filtering and focusing various ideas and plans towards the most appropriate outcome. We should always design with a conscience and consciousness for the budget involved.

Here is an internal view of the area I’m brainstorming ideas for. Ideas I’ve considered are: 1. Gutting and using the exisiting rooms for storage - cheapest option but seems a waste (we have heaps of storage). 2. Removing the rooms and creating an open study area with built in desks. But as it’s open to below (kitchen, dining, living) it’s noisy. 3. Doing a row of bookshelves all the full wall with a couple of indented window bench seats and some secret storage behind the bookshelves. This could be the most aesthetically appealing but also the most $$$$ 4

1. have a nice chat with your neighbour about the water from their yard as we're all required to keep our own water in our own yards ...overflow from their tanks should be able to be redirected with a simple hose into storm water..next step ask council for advice 2. anywhere that has recently had a stump ground or has matted old roots will probably eventually sink as underground roots rot away..but can take a long time so in the meantime some more raised beds could look great and cover up a lot of problems more of the steel trough would be good or try making one long raised garden bed with edges about 10cms away from the fence ..pieces of 30cms treated pine to match your edges or scraps of corrugated iron should be OK but not against the fence ..bang steel spikes into the ground or old bricks on either side to hold them in place and then read up on "dig free garden beds" to make a raised garden bed for veges or big strappy plants...many plants will happily live in only about 30cms of soil on top of concrete footpath so forget the tangled roots and occasional flood and make new raised beds on top