Hello Fianou, Congratulations on your charming home. I think it has so much potential. I love the idea of teal, it is fresh and welcoming. I was thinking to give the home some street appeal and to also make it extremely functional. I would see if you could afford to put a wonderful wooden deck out the front, and then I would have window shutters painted teal placed on either side of the windows to give it street appeal, if you could afford to paint the brick I would paint it in a happier white tone with the blue accessory trim on the shutters on each window and also on the roof trim to tie it all in. On the deck I would have flower boxes painted in the same teal colour or whatever colour you choose to link in the whole story. I can see it can be so sweet and charming and a real place to call home. The timber fence at the side would also link in with the decking at the front. Good luck and congratulations on buying your own home ! Woo hoo !

Thanks siriuskey for your suggestions. I don't really know what style my taste/style of house is really. I like the simplicity of mid century furniture and have a mid century Parker sideboard. Other than that, the house is a bit of a blank canvas at the moment. (the kitchen is fairly modern though with almost white glass splash back, white cupboards, and stone bench tops that are in a colour like Caesarstone Osprey (but are essastone). I do like things from the late 1950's/1960's.....and I like Audrey Hepburn. I also like the Parisian type black n white art from that era. (but I also like naive art - big colour artworks of people or animals that look like they have almost been painted by a child). If I had the money I would buy a high ceiling mid-century home like they have in USA (a modern yet mid-century Brady Bunch style home). My house is a 1962 chamfer board on concrete posts and batterns around the bottom and currently just has satin polished mixed hardwood timber floors throughout. Most of the walls are either natural white as in the study or snowy mountain quarter strength (and in smallest bedroom - half strength russian toffee). Because I am always scared that things will date if they follow trends too much, I always seem to do fairly conservative or timeless things in house renovations and rely on the furniture and accessories to add colour and style. (I like the idea of renovations and the ripping out of old stuff to create something new, but I really don't like have to make all the creative decisions etc along the way)......so I do appreciate it when I get advice from others. I have printed your suggestions and will have a look at them. (I guess the barn door look is actually similar in concept to some of the timber veneer sliding doors seen in midcentury homes). Thanks again.

MB Design & Drafting, I have to contradict your comment about having only 1 floor waste, we have a large double shower with only 1 floor waste, ours is in the centre of our double shower, our tiles are black and by the time we get out of the shower the water on our shower floor is gone, I always clean the tiles and glass before leaving the shower, I leave the fan on while we dry and by the time we are dried our shower floor is almost dry, we have no trouble at all with only 1 floor waste.. Barbara, we have the same problem, which is not a problem at all, my husband likes his shower much hotter than me but we have our showers turned on to suit each other, we have a small seat at each end to sit on while we wash our hair and feet and each others backs.

answering your questions: change the sliding door to a bench height sliding window and use the salvaged sliding door in the western end of the dining room where the best entry position is for the deck, you MUST have a proper legal drains do not consider anything else...the drain pipe for the garage laundry can be on top of the concrete floor, behind the washing machine and through the sink cabinet and/or under built in storage and only needs a few cms not a whole floor and no stepped up area that you would see or trip over.. the laundry can't be in a separate room as there's not enough space for a separate laundry without compromising the size of the garage...a laundry cupboard 80 cm deep is enough for the washing machine (allowing for the drainage pipe) you could use the old line cupboard to store anything you want but it's not cost effective to change, the entry foyer is already as big as in many modern homes and there's generous flatpac biw space in the small study.... the family bathroom is 2380 x 2370 (ie the old study minus 1m for hall way and wall thickness and, arranged exactly as shown to allow for the wide window there should be space for a bath up to 1800 x 750, vanity about 1200 x 500 and shower space 1200 x 800 and leftover space makes the small linen cupboard with the door deliberately opening towards the shower to use the back of the door for hanging racks for towels and clothes....btw i understood your priority was maximizing separate sleeping rooms and minimising costs...my last plan has five separate sleeping rooms plus the lounge with sofa bed totalling sleeping places for at least 10 people plus the potential for bunks in the garage so you need to decide what is most important and where you're prepared to compromise