Hi MJ, what a sweet cottage. I'd go for a thermal roller blind in the kitchen as it'll allow you to get your views and light, privacy of an evening and help maintain heat inside in winter - they're also easier to keep dusted roman blinds. In the bedroom, I'd go for a double railing with sheers that let light in during the day and then thermal and block out curtains to pull across of an evening. You would be able to pick up continuous thermal or block out curtains at Spotlight/Lincraft fairly cheaply - I like the continuous as you can have your curtains as full as you like). I wouldn't worry about lined curtains again as they're just far heavier and a pain in the butt with the amount of dust that both layers of fabric collect. I've got the thermal continous curtains in our bedrooms and have machine washed them and they were far less trouble when I was hemming them. In terms of thermal efficiency of your windows look at secondary glazing options - Magnetite, Ecoglaze and Justrite off options that you might find worth looking at (beats pulling out windows and replacing them).

Wow, that house is WAY to big. How on earth do you clean it? Why not have outdoor entertaining on the back deck? This would incorporate flying fox to a cubby and play equipment down the back yard. In the summer perhaps a collapsible awning for during the day but at night just candles and the stars to keep you company. If the weather is too cold you could provide a pile of crocheted lap rugs or fur or old blankets to get the cottage or french look. I suppose then your dining furniture would need to be a style to suit - maybe more relaxed or boho. Anyway sounds good fun - oo I forgot to allow for the outdoor fireplace (stone or brick) preferably. I notice you said any ideas would be greatly appreciated so I will press on regardless another day.

Hi Natasha, I think you are heading in the right direction with your arrangement of spaces. I think bedroom 3 where the laundry is makes better use of the outside window wall and just down the hallway from the bathroom. Also as you suggest, having bedroom 4 on the other side of the house is good for shift work sleep arrangements even if there is no extra powder room. Have you thought about making a small entry lobby from the courtyard where the master bedroom door is and moving the master bedroom door nearer to the ensuite, similar to Oklouise's plan. You could put a good coat cupboard from the entry backing onto the master bedroom wall. Open up the wall from the new entry to the kitchen/living space, where you have shown a cupboard. I also think having the TV area, dining and a small study room in that one area will make it feel too small. I'd make an office/study a deep cupboard that can be shut off when not in use. Perhaps create a full joinery wall between the living area and the media and bedroom 4 that works both ways and includes the study, B4 robe, TV units and entry to the media room and B4. In terms of the kitchen and laundry, I would make a nice deep laundry cupbd facing bedroom 2 in the hallway. Make sure it is big enough for all the stuff you need - ironing bd storage etc. The kitchen would be similar to what you have shown but move the island down to the outside wall to make it a peninsular. This would stop the kitchen being a walkthrough and as the laundry would ocupy the wall end near the entry, it would make the kitchen focus down the other end of the space. You can use the corner cupboard at the outer wall where the peninsular joins the bench for dining stuff storage facing the dining side, not the kitchen. Dining and living could be interchangeable and it depends on the relationship you want for both with the kitchen, back yard, front entry and media room. Cheers, Christine.

Thank you all for your advice. In response to the comment about wheelchairs, I actually looked up the legal requirement and found it to be 850mm clear, so even at 900mm this gap would be adequate but most doors in the house would not be wide enough, so I guess we move if either of us is confined to a wheel chair. I don't see us maintaining a large house and 1.5 acres in that situation anyway, as sad as it would be. Interestingly, I am advised that the new building code - to be introduced next year - will require ALL houses to be wheelchair friendly. No steps, wider doorways and halls throughout, disabled toilet and shower facilities. Insane in my opinion, particularly given the cost impact during a massive housing affordability crisis. What planet to these bureaucrats live on? That aside, I take the point about moving the hotplate and changing the shape of the island, but having considered that carefully, the idea doesn't appeal. But the hotplate is only 600mm. I had planned on a 750mm but as we have a 750mm glass top gas cooktop in the alfresco area out back and we hardly ever use more than 2 burners at a time, hubby convinced me to go with the 600. In fact, he ended up choosing the cooktop as he does a lot of the cooking. So at 1050mm, the leg of the L allows up to 450mm between the cooktop and end of the bench. Even if I leave 200mm + the 600 for at the corner at the other end, there is still 250mm. I considered shortening the leg of the L, but I specifically wanted a pullout on the end of it for oils, etc. so I am thinking maybe take the gap back to 950mm. That gives me an extra 150mm in the dining room. Bigreader, I possibly should have included more of the space in the image for clarity. Here it is: There will be a very small table and chair setting for casual meals in the U at the front and biflold doors leading to a terrace where we will often eat, so the gap will be for moving between cooking area and those two eating areas. Generally only one cook though. Drawers are for plates and cutlery. The space to the left is designated ''dining'' but need not be used much for that purpose given the two casual eating areas (both only accommodating 4 people max) and a large 8 person diining setting in the screened outdoor living area at the rear. But there will be a large wall unit along the wall on the left, taking up 500mm of the width, and the current width is only 3.25m, reducing to 2.75m with the wall unit in place. I was thinking of maybe putting a banquette setting - minus the chairs on the left side - in there using a narrow table so that in inclement weather if we had a larger crowd for a meal (which does happen quite often) or if we had more than 8 for a meal (which happens regularly on special occasions) we could move the chairs from one of the other eating areas and eat in the dining space rather than separating people more by putting some at the front of the house and some at the very back. But I don't want to crowd the space such that walking thru to the outdoor room is awkward as that thoroughfare will be used heavily used, especially when we have guests. I did consider leaving it empty but thought that might look rather odd. Or I could just put some casual seating in that space, as there will be a TV in the wall unit. BTW. I deliberately avoided a wider island as I like the raised hob screening the sink area and we hate eating at a bench. Thanks again for all the great advice.