Thanks Orangecamera. It's still a work in progress and mud everywhere Sorry we did look at having the steps' off set' but it didn't seem to go with only three steps and a small area. And about the zen well the cats are doing that for us much to our disappointment (it's still like a litter box to them). We went to the garden supply place still not knowing what kind of stones we were getting. We stood in front of all the bins (there where many). We even looked at mixing some. The grey stones had a bin more the size we wanted but we ended up getting the golden fleck. It was a little smaller, which was a shame, the bigger ones were so mixed in their grading it looked too messy. So this is what we finished up with. It was seagardens that got me thinking away from grey and nwduck mentioning the drainage. So this has really helped. Also everyone seem to think the wooden steps needed to go a lot lower. Next it's figuring out where the large river stones should go

Hi - sorry for my ignorance. What's a curtain waterfall? Like this?

Yes the windows are in place and I’m sorry I didn’t see this before we had to make some decisions

I have no idea what the relevant building rules are for your area , but I like your 'jailbar' idea , timber ( I'm guessing you'd need to get good solid timber -- no knots that may crack when someone runs into it playing indoor rugby haha ) stained dark -- it would contrast and compliment the lighter honey stained timber . It looks like your idea though is to take it straight across to the window ? I'd follow the existing L shape -- it would make the room a bit darker , but the stairwell would be as light as at present , plus there'd be no extra problems with taller people or furniture up the stairwell .