Michelle, I'm not a builder but am building with hubby, a single storey limestone home. Our daughter built a two storey limestone home just down the road, that hubby also built for her and the extra foundations she had to install would be at least twice more than we have for our single storey, not to mention that there were allot of short walled founds leading off the perimeter of her home to assist in less likelihood of wall roll out and the inspector called it. Cost for you, will depend on whether you have adequate foundations to carry a second storey and usually that is never the case. All the lower walls will need double the support and it usually has to carry on down to the foundations, depending on whether you have a solid concrete slab or concrete stumps that are accessible. This would mean most of the plaster being removed and hoping that you find no nasty surprises as far as the condition of the existing frame in the home, the builder would as I mentioned, have to add structural supports to carry the second storey. Most often, second stories are built with a hardiplank type exterior and certainly not brickwork as you would then difinitely have to have extra foundations in for such a reno and you would have to start asking yourself if it isn't better to demolish as this type of reno can be extremely costly. You might be lucky but probably highly unlikely, to have adequate structional integrity to be able to add a second storey, without everything I have mentioned to be skipped in any way. I hazzard a guess that such a reno would cost you $250,000+ and maybe more. Would love to know what you finally decide to do and your builders estimate. Good luck. Cheers, Barbara

Here is a suggestion for bringing more light into the kitchen without any major renovations. You could install one or two illume Shaftless Skylight Systems? http://www.kimprod.com.au/illume/illume_skylight.html It is basically a very large downlight powered by a little solar panel on your roof. They are simple to install and are amazing. I have one in each of my bathrooms and my mum has two down her hallway. They are instant solar powered, so if it is a cloudy they will be dim, if it is a bright they will be bright, at night they will not be on at all. You can even tell when a bird flies overhead. They aren't super expensive and will change your world. Good Luck

Hi Richard - the final kitchen layout looks amazing!! Congratulations. Any chance you could tell me what program you're using to design the kitchen / layout? I'm starting some minor renovation works on my house soon and would love to use something similar.

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