I have been really giving this soooo much thought. Every idea someone gives us has been thought out and mapped out!! The lighter bigger beam in the picture is where the natural flow of the house walkway should be. Two feet to the right of that beem is an electrical line, gas line and condensation line all from the second floor furnace. There was no heat on the second and third floor; we added a second furnace and all the ductwork. We have been told that we should not close up the small entrance on kitchen side and only leave the entrance on the left of the beam. Even if we left everything from that beam and to the left open and closed up the small entrance it is "not correct" to walk through middle of the dinning room to get to the other room. We have debated that one many many times as it would give a much bigger kitchen. We also debated closing the whole dinning room wall and only keeping the small entrance but then the house is not open enough for my liking. That is why we came up with the french door idea. My husband and I talked about the pass through and flipping the kitchen. We are also talking about moving the electric, gas and condensation line and putting the entrance to the right of the beam. But then closing off the whole dinning room wall. ( do not think I want to close off that wall all the way). The contractor comes tomorrow for something else and I am going to have him see if we can get sink plumbing in the kitchenette side. The idea of the stove on the windowless wall sound soooo beautiful. I wanted you guys to know how much I am appreciating all your ideas, you have no idea!!!! I know this post is long and full of a lot of facts about my house not yours- thank you for all the time you have been putting into this with me!!!! (for free :) )

I don't think chairs would make sense. You have limited height and I don't think anyone will ever sit there unless it was a space for small children. I know I would be uncomfortable there. That pretty much rules out all but the first table. Possibly the smaller desk at the taller end with some accessorizing in the corner. Another things to consider is that anything in that space still needs to be dusted and the floors around it cleaned. Maybe I'm sensitive to that because I'm tall and I have two dogs who are in shed mode --it's only 100 degrees outside, but I think I would tire of having to duck and clean in the shorter space. It seems your entry has space on that far wall for a table and possibly for a chair or two (hard to tell from just seeing the one side), so it doesn't seem like you need that space for a table. Personally, I like the idea of a bookcase, but I'd also not want it to get lost under the stairs. What is on the other side of that wall? This idea is not a move-in arrangement so long as an idea for a project, but I'd look at the possibility of putting in drawers or cabinets on the other side to take up about 2/3 of the depth and then bookshelves on the entry side. No furniture would be used under the stairs, but it might maximize your use of the space. Don't know what your needs are in combining two households, but it's an idea. The entry is appealing -- from the wood floors and stairs to the arch and the French doors -- lost of things to say come in and check me out. Looks like a lovely home. Enjoy making yours and mine into ours.

I'd use it as storage. Use full extension pull out slides and build your shelves to fit. Either leave the face of the shelves open or add a panel to accent the interior decor so that the shelves are hidden from view. Or do something like this http://pipsplate.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/dsc02214.gif or this http://unclutterer.com/wp-content/uploads/mt/070531-stairs.jpg or this http://farm1.static.flickr.com/46/114269424_7b27625bc3.jpg Jim

We don't have one in our current house - it's another flight of stairs, and then crawl space. As there's another 900 or so square feet of crawl space, the under stair area isn't used. In our last house, we drywalled it in, and it was a lower ceiling height area of the office on one side, and the workshop on the other side. In the house before that, it was a little wine cellar, as I recall. However, my favorite under stair space was in the house where I grew up. It was originally storage, and then my mother turned it into a cozy little kid place. She put a light in there, carpeted it, pillows all over, and hung pictures. I spent quite a lot of time reading in there. There was also a curtain hanging in front, so it was very cozy. The walls weren't finished or anything (stud walls), so there were places to stash stuff. Best use of crawl space I've ever had!