I had storage under my stairs in our previous home and am having it done again. I loved it. I put seasonal things such as candles, wreaths etc., that I could not put in the attic in there. I had considered making shelves/built-ins in the hallway under the stairs but I decided I would rather just have storage. It is also a great place to store the vacuum cleaner. Mine is open all the way under the stairs, the framer was going to wall it off and make it like a coat closet but I felt like that was wasting space. IMO it's great.

Thanks Nitin and Ideal Lifestyle. Sorry for the late reply, I don't know why my net is not working properly from the last few days. Ny way, I actually see the foating kitchen cabinet in google image. May be that it not good for our Indian kitchen. I love the drawyer system that offered in modular kitchen cabinet. But at the same time I have no patience to dry the the kitchenware (cookware/dish etc.) after washing. Now we put it on the steel dish rack (commonly visible in Indian kitchen) hanged in our wall after every wash, which no need to first dry and then store. But I want to conceal the dishes, pressure cookers, kadhais in drawyers. In my dream kitchen big kitchenware should be concealed, hanging cookware like saucepan, tawa, frying pan would hang on s hooks in railing and open shelve for the dry goods in glass/tin/ceramic jar.

This is a fabulous room. It oozes a bygone charm that you would lose by adding false ceilings and tube lights. Please don't! Go all out to preserve this magnificent floor and the beautiful furniture. That mirror is superb, as is the old painting. Keep the wall colour as is and change the upholstery after polishing and keeping the beautiful wooden furniture. The upholstery is mismatchedat present. But the different styled armchairs look very comfortable. Keep them. No modern furniture will give you such comfort. When you re upholster, refrain from choosing firm foam and such nonsense. It is far better to have good quality down or cotton, which moulds to the body shape. Invest in a high quality traditional patterned Persian or Kashmiri carpet for a restrained stroke of colour. Your upholstery should pick up colours from this carpet. So should the curtains. Please never even consider vinyl blinds, horizontal and vertical. If you tamper with this room and remodel it to be 'modern'- you will lose a treasure.

@Rock Doc: Are you addressing this to me? I haven't actually bought these tiles yet - when I do, I will definitely be going for the handmade ones. They're a work of art and irreplaceable in my opinion. However, there are also screen-printed tiles available in the market in more or less the same patterns; the workmanship is of course different, but you get them cheaper, and they're also more easily available. You could give that a shot. I'd recommend Aakaar Flooring Solutions - they're here on Houzz and are able to provide both the above-mentioned types.