It's a hard decision when you have to balance the cost of a full renovation to the ceiling timbers. If you remove the rails and gyprock the ceiling, maybe you could add a paper frieze or stencil where the rail was. This would break the height a little so the room doesn't feel like an empty elevator shute! I've got 3m high ceilings, masonry walls, but no rails. We are adding picture rails in some areas and doing dado's in others. Good luck, I wish you well....it looks like a lovely home.

Sorry my phone played up and posted before I was ready. I'm looking to style the new addition so it is noticeable as a new build with square set ceilings, polished concrete (easier with all the sand) and different external material but have aspects that relate back to the older building. Such as paint colour the same, window furnishing etc. The girls will most likely share a bedroom - I was thinking of using the one that was located linking to the winter deck as it was closer to us and away from the front of the house. It's not a big deal though as it is very quiet where we live (mainly holiday homes) and any bedroom will be fine. Thanks again for all your help and interest. I really appreciate it.

Gas is for dinosaurs ;) I'd go an all electric house, electric oven, induction cooktop, RC A/C for heating/cooling (they are very energy efficient heaters), electric (or heat pump) hot water, bottle gas for the BBQ. Couple this with a large solar PV system (5kW inverter, 5-6kW panels) & you'll greatly reduce energy bills. Design your roof to accommodate this PV system (not a roof with a million little triangles). If you're around the Central Coast, a well designed house should require little to no active heating/cooling. It's all about getting the orientation right, & letting the sun do it's work, heating your house in winter, & shading it in summer. My parents apartment in Sydney is designed this way. They never turn the heater on, & they use the AC a couple of times a year, for an hour or two in hot summer nights. Designing with orientation in mind is called "passive solar design". More can be found here, http://yourhome.gov.au/passive-design Simply put, it's about locating your living areas to the north, where they will be heated by the sun in winter, & minimising western windows, which overheat a house on summer afternoons. Unfortunately you have a northern frontage, which limits your scope to locate living areas facing north, but I'd still consider locating an additional living space to the north, in lieu of the master bed. I'd at least remove the northern portion of the verandah, as it will eliminate any winter sunshine from entering your home. An appropriate length eave, which admits winter sunshine, while shading summer sun, is a much better idea. With an interesting roofline you could have north facing clerestory windows, which would allow northern sunshine deeper into your house. Your other major concern would be west facing windows. West facing bedroom windows are a particularly bad idea, making bedrooms unbearably hot on summer evenings. So I'd consider flipping the back section of the house, locating the bedrooms on the eastern side. The bathroom would take the brunt of the western sun in summer. As would the rumpus, which is not ideal, but it's better than western bedrooms. Shade any western windows with vertical awnings, trees or use low-e glass. I'd actually consider flipping the whole plan, also locating your living area & verandah in the west. This verandah will then shade your house from harsh afternoon sun. Of course other things must be considered. Views, privacy, access to cooling breezes, whether your outdoor living area will be comfortable to be used on hot summer evenings, just to name a few.

Hi dear Siri....always investing so much time and thought into designs for everyone... thank you so very kindly :) I love the look of that! Seeing things in 3D really does bring it to life and make a plan just pop right up off the paper! Do you think the shower/toilet should be swapped to take advantage of the garden view? Otherwise the toilet gets the glory - and a little set of table and chairs would be looking back inside to the toilet? Or - could we do that idea off the shower/toilet side? From the dressing room down to the toilet? Make the dressing room smaller to accommodate a door into a small walled garden? Love your (and everyone else's) input as always :) xx