The weather was overcast in Sorrento today, but the Site Supervisor's forecast is for happy days ahead for this new beach home

I agree with the three statements above. My initial thoughts were that your kitchen and the example you provided as an alternative idea - is that they are no way alike and I do not think you could ever turn your old kitchen into the new. I also couldn't believe there was a mirror above the oven in the newer kitchen. Unless they are using this for reflective light - what are they thinking? Back to your kitchen - my first thought was ..... the pictures of the chef all around the top of the cupboards have to go. I would also try to remove the cupboards above the stove to add height to that space, as it currently looks like you would have to duck down every time you wish to cook and height automatically adds the felling of spaciousness. You could then add a feature wall of tiles / glass if you wished to (without a mirror). Normally I would never recommend someone paint lovely wood but in this case maybe a lovely fresh white finish may help because your kitchen appears (based on the photo) to be dark (natural light wise) and white is amazing for adding light and freshness. As we can not see the rest of the space and storage maybe at a premium I can not recommend anything else except to perhaps consider replacing the under cupboard lighting with bright mini LED lights (if the lighting is required). Remember the term ..... less is more. Good Luck.

When I first wrote in August 2017 we got a lot of great suggestions and comments. At the time we had accepted the limitations of the block (easements, tree, solar access etc). It is now one year later and I can tell you we found a way to move the garage to the south-west corner. This allowed us to move Beds 2 and 3 and the bathroom to the northern side. Pantry and laundry between garage and kitchen/living/dining. I think it was all of the comments and suggestions that encouraged us to look at it again from different angles, rather than just accepting the limitations. Thanks to everyone for their generosity! The solution involved working around a lovely tree (it is nice, just in the wrong spot). It is still in the way (council said we couldn't remove it) but we've opted for a long, curving driveway that starts on the other side of the block and weaves its way around the treeline to the garage entry. Not ideal, because a large portion of the front setback will now be a hard surface, instead of a garden. But if there is one thing that designing teaches you - its all about compromises. Thanks everyone. MB Design & Drafting Shara C Nik Star girlguides oklouise siriuskey genkii saragraham76 Andy Pat brizcs Mel N 3D Home Concepts suancol Caro

And to answer your question siriuskey. Yes the front room has been opened out into a verendah. This room got really hot in summer so wasn’t working as another living space. We’re restricted to what we can change at the front of the house as we are in a heritage area. We can make changes without a DA if we don’t change the front of the house. Agree we can change a lot with a wooden house, but I think we’ll be restricted on reusing windows. All our casement windows are original glass from the 1930s so won’t be to modern building code. If we move them, they’re gone. However replacing with modern glass would bring more light into the home. We’ve put fans in all rooms and always have the French doors open in bed 2 so light and ventilation haven’t been an issue. Might become so if we put a moody teenager in there though!