We Finally Moved In

I realize that I have been MIA for some time now.  Our time was up on our lease so we had to move in to our new house regardless of the fact that the painting and the flooring is not complete.  It's been fun trying to decide where to put everything.  The most unfortunate part of the unpacking process, is that we no longer have built-in bookcases to house two big bins and a few smaller boxes of books.  Building my own bookcases crossed my mind, but that was nothing more than a fleeting thought as I remembered the millions of other things waiting to be addressed.  For instance, check out these stairs:

I'm not sure if you can tell, but these stairs are unusually high.  When the inspector spoke with us, he informed us it was a little higher than what the code states.  Until recently, homes built in rural areas didn't have to follow codes.  Of course that makes absolutely no sense to me, but I'm glad the rest of the house stayed pretty close to all building codes.  What is so unfortunate for us, is that we had two people tell us that in order to lower the rise, we have to bring the stairs more out.  That seems absolutely impossible to me.

There's a closet directly in front of the stairs and the master bedroom door is on the right.  There is no room to bring the stairs further out downstairs.  One suggested going further out upstairs.  Once again, I don't think it's possible.  It's not such a problem for us, but I have two little ones and it is certainly a safety concern.  I thought perhaps the stairs could go to a ninety degree angle into the living room, but I fear it will disturb the feng shui of the room since it is so open as soon as you walk through the front door.  Feng shui or safety?  Hmmm... Feng shui or safety?  We all know what is most important.  I need to get another opinion and will do so soon.  I am certainly open to suggestions other than the spiral staircase my husband jokingly suggested.