I would get rid of all the lawn from the street to the rock retaining wall. Then I would use the slope of the hill to layer shrubbery from tallest to shortest. This would give you privacy from the street, invite birds into the garden and save you mowing on a slope. You have a nice small patch of grass next to your paving to provide the flat green space that is restful for the eye - do you really want more? Depending on where you are plants like grevilleas, callsitemon, tea trees could be stunning. Lower plants like grasses along the edge with a water bowl for the birds set amongst them

Hi Virginia, How did you go with your quest to find a designer for your house renovation? What a beautiful rock wall that is - and how wonderful to have river views that can be maximised by building up. A good designer will be able to take all your design priorities and combine these with strategies to maximise sustainable design principles i.e. lots of natural daylight and ventilation, material selections, correct orientation, good zoning within the house and opening up views, and direct access to garden areas from living areas etc. The real challenge is in identifying how to achieve everything you want with a budget that is realistic, and more often than not compromises may need to be made in your brief in order to match your budget, especially if that is a fixed budget. Go with a designer or architect whose work you like and with whom you feel comfortable, and the process should be rewarding. This is a big investment, and so its better to go with someone whose work you love and with whom you feel comfortable, who can also help you manage your budget and understand the whole project costs. On a final note, your ideas are lovely, and I can imagine a modestly sized new 2-level extension, which could link to the area above the rock wall, the garden below, and possibly the roof of the existing house (depending on where north is and where the views are!) would work really well. Good Luck!

sounds like some bean bags and/or covered single mattresses might be useful for crash landing, seating and spare bedding...check out the thick foam mattress that can be stacked to create seating or spread out on the floor with floor pillows, keep all the bookshelves but swop the "tall" table for a low (coffee table height) for kid's work table while sitting on the floor (ideally the mattresses and a folding table could be stored in the wardrobe (like Japanese tatami mats?)

It is a tough layout to work with - this might sound unusual & I'm not sure whether it would work 100%, but if you create a 'freestanding wall' with your bookshelf (or perhaps get a new one in white), with a low entertainment unit next to it, then shift the lounge against the long wall, you could possibly create a room rather than a space that probably feels like a corridor. Here's a very quick scribble to show you what I mean