Good question. I extended a home upstairs and the stairs were a pain at night - particularly with young kids - because we could not afford to put a toilet or full bathroom upstairs. This meant so many trips up and down that we eventually thought that if we stayed in the house for many more years we would have to shell out for a bathroom. In the end, we left. I hope this helps!

I love single storey homes as they can look just as grand as double storey. I hope this extension and renovation went well! Would love to see some images.

how high and wide is the retaining wall? we were expected to use scaffolding for reroofing under 3m and were quite happy to trust the builders' use of safety procedure as a normal part of modern building practices and, as big reader says, it's extra work for the builder so have to trust that they would not be asking for scaffolding it if there was a safe alternative

Ashjean I have had a play with your house and suggest the following very basic layout at this time to see if you like it I would have the garage on the Battleaxe drive way along with laundry, bathroom and study, this could be built on the boundary with the eaves on this side reduced if needed, Windows would be high light up under any eaves. I suggest that the bedrooms are on the western boundary which will be quieter and cooler with plantings, the hard surfaces of the driveways will store any day time heat that will be released over night Keeping the floorplan simple with removing the extra passage to separate the bedrooms and bathroom and using a simple roof without too many extra ridges will save you money. Can you please confirm the front width of your block and the length