The façade cost will depend upon the materials you pick and site specs (sloping blocks are a bit more challenging) and labour costs ( just make sure that you check your trades licenses, insurances and references for everyone who works on your house) - once you're structurally sound then the rest is straight forward (it's also been my experience with my builders - who are awesome - that they can come up with some amazing ideas that are cost effective and have a real wow factor). If it were me I'd ask around the neighbourhood for builders that can be recommended - they should be able to do it all at the same time and save you some money. On the materials - I'd be tempted to go with natural timber that will weather naturally without needing maintenance - personally I'd lean towards a Japanese technique of charring the timber so that you don't need to do a lot of upkeep - called Shou-sugi-ban - the reason being that the dark colour will tone in with your window frames.

Thanks siriuskey and Jen! I have been toying with this idea already.... also with making the current main bedroom into a living area (as it would make a nice sitting room, it has a great garden view). Actually, since I originally asked for help on here we have booked the job in with a builder & plumber.... still have to line up other trades but it's not happening until June next year. Below is the plan I ended up giving to the builder for his quote... but of course I am likely to change my mind about 50 times before we go ahead! Especially since as you'll see, the planned ensuite is too narrow, we will have to make it wider. RE having a WIR for the maswter, we decided a BI would be ok instead since we dont have many clothes and we'd rather use the limited space for bigger bedrooms. Also we had to double our budget to $100k as $50k (our original) wasn't going to cut it!!!! ( & we'll still have to be very careful with our spending).

Don't suppose the roses are iceberg?, I can just see your dogs scaring the life out of the poor fish. My same farmer Friend had his roof spray painted on a similar period house to yours, and it was a perfect no problems, I think that there good and bad and ugly trades that do these roofs, I know a neighbour was not happy with the quality of his and had to be redone and then another managed to get a really dodging one going around doing roofs and driveways that were total rubbish. A good job removes and resets all the ridge line tiles repairs adjusts and replaces tiles where needed. and remember to keep too many people from walking around on your tiled roof as this can add to more cracked brittle tiles. Re painted down pipes I wouldn't worry at the moment, a house nearby has just had roof painted mid gray and walls rendered a very soft pale beige/sandstone colour. Windows doors eaves, barge boards, down pipes are all white and the gutter is the same as the roof colour, simple, it's hard to match paint colour with brick work so I think I would be going with unpainted white the same as the neighbours I just mentioned, they won't get scratched that way and your down pipes aren't terribly visible from the front. A farm house bedroom for you x, Ticking,linen,timber, black and metal and a blue wall like your fireplace

Appreciate the thoughts and this may be a solid option elsewhere in the country but in my circumstances I don't plan to be moving from this property any time before the kids are 18. It is located in Sydney's inner west, and in a specific high school catchment I plan to take advantage of when the kids are older. Stamp duty to buy the property was close to $100k and if moving out even in ten years to a larger property; that averages $10k a year spent on stamp duty. I know 115m2 internal is tight, as is the fixed layout due to existing bedroom walls, ceiling heights, wet areas, and the like - but there has to be a way to make this work... I have read that 4 bedroom apartments should be 102m2 or bigger. I am willing to make compromises where possible but I really want to create that extra separate room "Multi-purpose room" which can double as a study/work area/kids play area/media room/ad-hoc sleeping accommodation". Paul Di Stefano: I don't think these changes essentially equate to 'rearranging a sock drawer' - this is my PPOR so I am not too concerned what other buyers want or resale value if I plan to hold the property for 10-20 years +... (any trends we design for now may well be outdated by then anyway). Many buyers highly value indoor-outdoor integration. By moving the kitchen to centre, it opens up the rear and creates indoor living->outdoor living link. If I get IKEA flatpack kitchen and DIY as much as possible - have a friend reroute the water/drainage/+his licenced electrical friend...hopefully this work would cost sub-$20k. Adding the sliding door to rear is $2.5k. Ensuite, bathroom and laundry I believe I can fitout for $10-15k all up- let's say 15k (again, tiling, raise flooring, showers/fixtures/flat pack laudnry cabinetry install all done in-house without tradies). The only thing I really need professionals for is to move the gas line in kitchen, BIR installs, stone benchtop, and maybe a few adhoc wall demo/construction/doorway moving - lets call that 10k. All up ballpark that is 47.5k? Sirius- If I go with your style plan then I lose the potential 4th bed space and have no where for relatives to stay, babysitter, nanny; etc :( Maybe it is a possibility that the main living space be used for lounge room and kitchen, we can always put dining table in the Multi-purpose room, then when that room is needed for sleeping accommodation, the dining table be moved to the side and kids can eat dinner on island bench bar; lounge or outside table... ? those doors to each side of the fireplace as you suggest - this space is very cramped outside (2.45m width) and potentially would be used to store trailer or garden shed, there is an old terrace built on zero-boundary there and they have a DA to go 2 storeys; which will shadow the whole area. This is why I planned to make the rear south corner a raised deck and try to channel house activity leading out the existing glass french door to that deck, or the rear sliding door. See photo-(my house is on the left, terrace zero boundary on right, and front on is a wooden dividing fence which on the opposite side is the driveway/1 car park and front street.