you are thinking about the space right now. it looks odd, no doubt. 1) when you fill in with the furniture, just make sure the three steps are hidden. 2) consider three potted plants of different height, so the rectangle is complete. 3) glass bowl with Siamese fighting fish for each step 4) figurines of different heights 5) 2inch square wooden bar on each step up to the top of the rectangle. and complete the entire rectangle if you want with a smaller rectangle open in the center my suggestion is, there is a reason why this space ended up like this. it will look great once you put something there. things like these are what make your house unique.

The red brick wall as a backdrop sounds very interesting. You can get quirky posters of various liquor brands like Jack Daniels, Chivas etc in black and white and get it framed and put them on the wall. Also industrial look is very in so the bar top can be done using a copper sheet over a plywood top instead of traditional granite or marble. Also utilise any empty beer bottles or wine bottles to make a customised chandelier. For stools you could have wrought iron stools with leather seats matching the brick wall. A small wall shelf with a display of shot glasses will make the look more interesting. Hope this is helpful, it will be great if you can share pictures of the area to give some more inputs.

Thanks for your reply. Here if you see the picture. There is a groove at the centre, initially i was planning to place natural stone on that, thats why made a groove. but when i was having lunch , i found not enough space for keeping food/utensils. Due to small width, and if I increase the width of table top - both sides by 3 inches, it will suit me perfect. So if I place a clear glass on top, what should I place at the central part. How to manage that groove, I am thinking about putting stone pebbles. Another option - I can place glass at the center and for sides, can place stone slabs. Again, do you think, should i fix stone over there. It will fit the groove.

I live in a converted Victorian school. The impact noise from the flat floor above is terrible. It's actually a relatively new floor (upstairs) but the owner of it is a nightmare and the company who fitted it are complete crooks. The result is a constant creaking/cracking (up to 70db!!) every time someone just walks in the flat upstairs. He is refusing to do any repairs whatsoever - despite having been to court over the issue. He rammed boards between the joists and used cheapest chipboard for floor. Result = creaking, popping, cracking. The noise is very much coming from the existing structure of the floor upstairs, via flanking. Needless to say the freehold are absolutely useless also. I've attached a floorplan of my flat - in the non-bedroom part there are high ceilings and I think I can easily manage to install a false ceiling there (I have at least 10cm to play with there). However, where the bedrooms are the ceilings are very low and I only really have 5cm to play with. On top of that there are 2 RSJ's running across the bedroom areas - that are boxed in and will therefore cause a break in any materials. It's a nightmare! I am desperate to find something that will help in the bedroom area. However, I am unsure of what to go for having read around? ....atm the ceiling is made up of 2xlayers of plasterboard screwed into the joists directly. Can anyone recommend anything on top of this? That would be effective for such loud creaking/cracking. I am only interested in reducing impact noise from above (as I know the airborne will naturally be reduced if I can sort this). Does green glue actually work if I put 2 more layers of plasterboard?? Does acoustic plasterboard actually work? What about MLV on a ceiling? Or should I be looking at soundproofing wallpaper foam and then a layer of plaster? What's the slimmest best solution? Perhaps resilient bars are an option straight onto the ceiling as is - and then one more layer of something? Do you have any experience of this? Grateful for any thoughts - or for anyone's experience where a particular material hasn't worked. Many thanks, A