A houzz contributor, not too long ago, had made a wine rack out of 4'x4' wooden pallets, that are used in the US to move a load of goods with a fork-lift truck. Perhaps they have them in your country. He cut them in half so they were only two feet deep and stacked them up to high counter height. The wood would be a nice contrast with your concrete, might add a little warmth to the space. cascio.offsite@gmail.com

I have some suggestions if you are thinking budget friendly changes. Make a photo gallery with different size frames and arrange them parallel to the stairs, so you can enjoy each photo as you climb up. And for the area that will be on a level with your upper floor, try some pretty decal that will connect the photo gallery to upper level. And last, if you have budget add some beautiful hanging lights in the stairwell. Also think about repositioning your refrigerator.

Referring to the sketch above as option 1 you can have two option, option 1, as obvious cutout at the middle of the u shape staircase, in addition to this you can also have a double height entrance foyer with a chandelier in between hanging from the top. on first floor you can shift the balcony door side ways as mentioned with a circle. referring to the image above option 2 option 2 would be a complete change of staircase orientation , bringing the staircase in front foyer, extending the upper cutout as marked in dotted line, the new found area can help you extend your both bathrooms areas or can help you put some ground floor furniture or a informal study area.(see if your FSI permits to all these changes). and on the top your new area can accommodate your big gym equipment's like treadmill , and some additional gym storage. here you can also get to know from top who has arrived to your front door peeking downwards. further the walls of this area can be decorated while doing interiors and make the foyer look grand & luxurious. option three, If you are thinking of giving a cutout in center of the hall, please avoid, your areas above wont be usable in an appropriate way. cheers

Dear Khurshid, Ask your builder if the double height terrace can be used for staircase. That way you can shift your dining table to the present staircase area which is just adjacent to your kitchen and still can keep it double height which will also serve as entrance area. Doing so you get more additional space for your living area and can have a more comfortable seating arrangement. Also by shifting your staircase to double height area makes more sense as you can still use it as terrace seating. You don't even need to have rcc staircase. Go with metal staircase with wooden treads. Which is space saving and looks super cool. Its a penthouse so do something out of the box. You cant do much with the structure but you have infinite possibilities in interior work to make it special. I hope that makes some sense to you.:) Regards, Ar. Ravi Prakash