Hey GLP - figured many of you are home owners and might have some thoughts about this. I'm hoping to open the light from my living room into my kitchen to get more of an open concept. But there's a big o'l stairway to the basement in the way.

I have a rectangular house with a flat roof. On the left end with the attached garage, I have an entryway right, a landing and a stairway to the basement. At the end of the opening for the stairway is a finished closet that's pretty much useless, since there's already one by the front door.

I was thinking of taking the walls enclosing the stairway down, but they're probably load bearing.. I know I can work around that with some headers and structural concepts. I know some professional contractors, but right now I'm just looking for ideas.

What do you think, GLP? Could I knock down the walls to open it up? Maybe replace them with half-walls, and replacethe closet with a little breakfast peninsula?

It looks like this. Attached garage is to the left of the living room / kitchen.


----BIG WINDOW-----Door--|
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| Living Room
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|| Stairs||||||||||||:::| <---Useless closet
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| Kitchen...........Dining
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-----__----------______--|