Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hi fb57, Great charming federation house, retain the front and fix the back, then maybe later you can put in a granny flat - depending on cost and local council bylaws. I would not put in an attic - stairs are a good place for mishaps and as we age it might have limited functionality - but if its something you have your heart set on it might prove worth while. It appears that you are competent enough to do a decent measure up plan, going from what you have posted - you might need to take a few photo and a few other dimension to get a good design from someone working online. The idea is to get a design that you are happy with and then get a local competent Drafts-person to do your working drawings for a Building Permit and then get it built with a Builder of your choice. This would result in my opinion in a significant saving and a design of your choice, especially if you are willing to do some of the legwork with council and other authorities. To get a good design that you feel is a solution to your requirements, you need to produce a variety of design schemes (plans elevations perspectives etc.) and this can be done online with any competent Building Designer that you can get along with. It will not take one go at it - and it will not be quick, as you need time to digest every scheme but generally it works out in the long run. These are some of the things I would look at: 1. The possibility of breaking up the build into stages - maybe stage one do the renovations at the back and the stage 2 place in a granny flat. 2. As you have good access on both sides of the property I would place a new garage on the largest width and possible gate and walkway on the other side to give individual access to the granny flat. The new garage would be as closely to the front as possible, with the new fence an gate on the other side it would greatly improve security. 3. Depending on budget I would provide a bathroom shower and toilet with a walk in robe to the main bedroom and redo the kitchen and laundry if required. 4.The area next to the lounge area I would develop into an external entertainment area. 5 Since you mentioned that you have a "Fibro Extension" it implies to me that you may have asbestos on the property - get an expert in and determine if you need to remove asbestos when you renovate - this is a dangerous material and you should take all precautions possible to avoid long term damage. 6. An indication of the position of your neighbors windows and setback might also help in providing a design that complies with your planning laws and respects your adjoining neighbors. Like all things it will take a few revisions to get it right , but if you are willing to work at it, it will payoff in the end. The first thing is to draw up the existing conditions to scale so that an initial proposal showing possibilities can be worked on. I would be willing to work on this project with you online, I hope this is of some help. Regards Michael Manias mm407p@gmail.com

Thanks for all your replies and feedback. I haven't provided a lot more detail as the location of the kitchen/living areas go will dictate how the rest of the layout flows. This is going to be our forever home. We do not have children yet but planning to start a family soon. We are definitely relocating the stairs to the side of the property regardless as its current location is not really optimal. Louiab's point about losing that connection from the living areas to the garden is what we are concerned about, hence one of the option is to just open up the ground floor, keeping the kitchen and living downstairs and having bedrooms on the first floor. A third option would be have a formal living area at the rear of the first floor and have stairs connecting down to the kitchen and courtyard. That way, we can open up the ground floor to the courtyard and still keep the city skyline view in a common area.

Thanks to oklouise, big reader and kate for your quick response. Sorry oklouise I used measurements from the central heating person. New measurements are Dinning L2.97x w4.13, Kitchen L3.21x4.01, Meals L4.75 x 3.5, circulation space (Entrance stair) L3.1 x 2.05, Living L 6.58 x 3.7. I’m unsure how to use the lounge and Circulation space (entry from stairs). I’ve taken the picture of the existing lounge and circulation space. I thought I was asking too many questions and as people are very generous with their time and responses. Do you have suggestions for lounge and circulation space? With new plans I feel circulation space will be wasted or not used. Proposed pantry on the overall plan is not to scale. After researching plans in the Houzz I liked your (oklouise ) clever design for your pantry. Your pantry L1.6 x 1.4 but I had room for more so extended length 3.7 this figures can adjusted. On the kitchen plans above the sink number (20)is a window which is 1.80 x .96. bigreader we have no cladding or infill. Thanks for the suggestion of painting the classing/ bricks. The window we are going to remove in Meals is 1.80 x 1.48. I have taken a picture of the outside wall where the window is going to be removed (upper left). Thanks kate for for your suggestion for pantry and island. The pantry may block the entrance of the stairs. I like the idea of a splash back window but I feel this might blow the budget. Please see photo external widow being remove (upper left). I am getting very familiar with my tape measure and it’s become my second best friend after my husband. I have damaged one tape measure by walking on it. Thanks again for your ideas and time.