Louie - pretty well I think. See my latest renditions below. I have been playing around with how to screen off that toilet/shower area from the living room. Not only would it be preferable to keep the toilet out of sight, but it would also be nice if people pop go down and up the stairs to visit the toilet or shower without having to do a short "walk-of-shame" past the potentially occupied living/dining room. I was thinking a of having a partially-drawn pair of curtains or perhaps one of those dangle-y "fly curtain" type things to disrupt the view a bit, but then I thought a set of swinging doors with tinted/diffuse glass in them, because: 1. You can charge in and out of this busy area by just pushing through the set of doors, and letting them swing back in to place behind you (like saloon doors) 2. The glass panes will still allow the person to see if anyone is on the other side, so they don't bowl them over. Will also let natural light in. Also means could do away with the laundry door perhaps, since it will be kind-of redundant (main purpose was to eliminate washing machine noise in the living area) 3. The doors also stop heat from the fireplace drifting up the stairs on cold winter nights when the fire is going. Not a crucial thing at all, but a nice additional benefit Thanks for sharing the floor plans - it's given me a much clearer picture of what you've done with that pole house...looks fantastic! brizcs - great point about the chair by the window, that's really struck a chord with me so I am toying with ways to do this. One idea I had is in the plan below: Rather than put a narrow table hard against the glass, maybe swing the kitchen table 90 degrees, make it longer, and have people sit along the south side looking out the windows most of the time. When it's night time or there are lots of guests or whatever just drag the chairs to the other side and you're back to the conventional set up. If a table where flush against the windows it would mean a lot of direct sunlight on its surface throughout the cooler months, due to the low angle of the sun (glare might become a problem?)

Thanks Tilly, yes I think it'll be a really good exercise to think about how we live every day and what will support that. For example we had a BBQ on the weekend and the weather was quite cool, so my husband said how about a covered entertaining area to the rear of the house (north facing), but I'd rather have it open so the sun comes into the house every other day of the year! So we're investigating these fabric folding awnings... I might get us both to sit down and virtually go through our day to work out our ideal items. Thanks! Holly, thanks for sharing, some great ideas there. Yes I don't want a huge footprint, and survived for 10 years in a small Victorian terrace with a 'Euro' laundry behind fold-back cupboards in the bathroom and it never bothered me, so you've reminded me that I'd much rather that space devoted to more enjoyable areas! And keen on the versatility of a multi-purpose room, sounds like such a great approach, I work part-time from home plus my family is interstate so doubling as a guest bedroom would be perfect for us. Love the window bench with storage idea and yes I want an island bench that's clear of sinks etc. Wow those loft beds are amazing! Might pencil that in as an idea. Wonderful, thanks!

Hi SonaandDi, In case you haven't come across it, here is the link to my finished kitchen: https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/5598603/renovation-of-our-1956-red-brick-triple-fronted-home-all-done This layout has the potential for issues, but I tried to factor those in by noting where the fridge doors came to when fully opened. I should have allowed a little more width for the fridge gap, as the theory didn't quite translate in practice: on the plans I allowed the minimum of 20mm either side of fridge, but ended up with only about 13mm (was not fun getting the fridge in!). So my suggestion is to make sure there is 50mm either side of fridge. eg the fridge space is 1000mm wide for french door fridge around the 900mm mark. Even so, my doors do open fully (vegie drawers slide out unobstructed), as the doors themselves sit forward of the nib wall on the right. If your fridge space is wider, you won't need to sit the fridge out the full thickness of the doors, which may look more streamlined. But make sure you allow for 50mm space at the back of fridge. This will decide the depth of your nib wall. I calculated mine as 50mm plus the depth of the fridge to the start of the doors. You might prefer to make it a bit deeper, as the doors have more room to open due to the extra width of the space. It isn't annoying having the door opening over the pantry entry. It isn't often that someone wants to get to the pantry at the exact moment someone else opens the fridge. Even if that happened, you could get past if you couldn't wait: Good luck with your renovation! Because you can't be on site, I would always factor in more wiggle room. Let me know if I can help with any more info - I could talk about this stuff all day long!

Some great comments and thoughts from you all. Trends are a consumer marketing tool to encourage you to continually spend and buy their products... A home should be a living curation of things you love that work for you and nobody else. Yes there are some design principles you can follow but these are a guide and should be considered along with the space, it's purpose, the light, the people and much more. Instead of buying more, consider what you have and carefully select things to complement them - update by changing things around and making sure YOU love the style and it suits the way YOU live!