Hi everyone,

ive been in my new house for around 10 months, we've done some work in improving parts of the house & am quite pleased with how the bedrooms & bathrooms of the house have come together

We are really struggling though with the very odd layout of the entrance of the house "hall" area, living room, extension & "dining" areas, basically the entire living space.

The entrance feels very cramped and dark, the hall is just an odd space with no functionality and is also very dark, the sitting room as noted on the plan is more of a thoroughfare & you also have to walk through the lounge extension to go downstairs to the family room/dining room. The lounce extension (and porch) are also raised around 4" higher than the rest of the space which breaks up the space (but not necessarily in a good way).

Its been terribly thought when it was built but I was hopping someone might be able to offer some suggestions or guidance as to how to use these spaces? I've two young kids (1 and 3) so had thought to change the downstairs into a playroom/tv room which would also help keep noise away from the bedrooms but it was just a thought & in honesty don't have much of a clue where to start.

One of the images shows the wall removed between the lounge & utility room & a laundry cupboard created. We haven't removed the wall yet but think it could be beneficial (but again I'm open to any suggestions at all!)

Many thanks for any advice.