Let's break the stuff down. Paint- You said you were going to use it upstairs. Pick a time when you can paint and then paint. Putting this off is stealing your energy for other things. Most people hang onto paint cans indefinitely and never use the paint again. Use it or get rid of it. Tools - you need to find a way to store the tools since they have value and add value to your home when used. I would make the focus of the storage space for your tools. If the tools are organized and easy to find, you will be more likely to work on projects. You could even build a small workbench in there. Put shelves above it and to the right of it. Totally useful. Then you could hang curtains along the whole length. Ikea had a wire curtain rod for almost nothing. It's very indiscreet. If you don't sew, you could use bed sheets. On most sheets, the top hem is like a pocket which you could use to string the wire through, but if you are mildly handy with a sewing needle, you could sew rings at the top of the sheets and run the wire through the rings. That would make it easier to open and close. Keyboards and other misc computer equipment - What do you mean it's a hobby? Are you actively building new systems that use up the components on a regular basis? If you are not, but keep saying that you want to do it, think about it really hard. It's very common to get all excited about a new hobby, but then we lose interest in it. If you are not doing anything about the equipment, that means you really are not that into your hobby any more. Let the equipment go and you will gain space and open up your mind and heart for a new hobby that you will enjoy doing. Hanging on to an ex-hobby keeps us in the past and doesn't allow us to move forward to live the life we want to live. Tiles - You have no idea where you will use them. I know of a perfect place. If you have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore or something similar in your area, donate the tiles. The tiles are taking up valuable space, not only in your house, but your head. Free them and it will free your mind, and your tiles will benefit someone who is less fortunate than you.

No pix, but my daughter's pantry is under a straight run of stairs, accessed from the end, and is truly excellent, like Dreamhome's, with shelves only along the side. It has no special features to maximize storage, but because the run is straight it has tons of storage as it is. If it were mine, I might well build in a couple of aftermarket pullouts at the end to hold pet food. If not, I'd fit the far end to hold tall, deep stuff so I didn't have to lean over to grab, and I'd place that back storage before the point where leaning became cumbersome. I'd also wall off behind that. No back pantry "ghetto" collecting seldom-used items that I disliked visiting and wished I didn't have to empty and clean. This is exactly what we did with our master closets in our attic bedroom--short hanging items (blouses and folded pants) on a bar across the back, placed where I could walk forward under the 12 in 12 pitch, reach out without any bending at all, and get what I wanted. I decided on bar placement, then told the carpenters where to frame the back wall. Also working excellently. BTW, my own 12" deep wall-pantry shelves hold everything (EVERYTHING!) but my largest pots and serving platters. It was a big surprise to realize just how small, for instance, a large Sams Club bottle of vegetable oil really is. These shelves hold Campbell's soup 4 deep with a couple inches to spare. Shallower shelves would mean less searching.

If it's in your budget, LEDs are a good option and the range of available product is wide. Your electrician should be able to help you configure the lengths you want. The good thing about LEDs is no or low heat. They have very long life. You might even be able to use rope type lights and the length won't be an issue. Shop around. You will find amazing varieties. Be careful about polka dotting. If the lamps aren't close enough together, they could throw a pattern you might not find pleasing. I have UC incandescent strips and it keeps my butter soft and spices warm in the cabinet above. The bad thing about LEDs is the potential to get unpleasant color if you don't select the right ones. Make sure you use a warm color temperature, 2700K or above so your kitchen light doesn't look blueish. A friend of mine put the wrong ones in and ended up yanking them out because they looked so bad. Go to a kitchen design store or lighting showroom so you can see different types of light installed. It wouldn't be a bad idea to dim them so you can just have a soft under cabinet glow when you're not working in the kitchen. Good thing you have the rail. Mount the light as close to the rail as you can. Most people don't consider the fact that when you sit at the kitchen table, a light not mounted properly will likely hit you in the eye.

It looks like you may be planning to use the same art there as you used before; so this idea may or may not work for you. But I am thinking if this is going to be the bar area, as one idea, you could have a wall cabinet there to store a few bottles, glasses, decanters, etc. You could leave the counter basically clear for prep. https://www.karvdwalls.com/wall-mounted-liquor-bar-cabinets/hitch https://www.karvdwalls.com/wall-mounted-liquor-bar-cabinets/arch