Hi kazzi18 Nice house, strong frontal appeal and typical of the period, I would not change the front with the exception of trimming some trees so that it can be seen slightly better. I think that what you propose is possible and the budget seem close. Here some things that you might like to consider: 1. To give it a required style I would do it by changing slight details to the front if change is required. The handrail has to meet the Australian Building Code (NCC) especially for height and minimum width between balusters. (Cannot tell from the pics that you posted). You may be able to amend it and keep the original - steel can be welded successfully if required. 2. To get your third bedroom I would do a number of sketch plans maybe from a couple of professionals - this will give you an independent view of possibilities - I think a good investment, and you are not tied top any professional that may have their own design agenda once you sign on the dotted line. There is quite a bit of information on your posted plan, dimension wise, you really need a few heights and some information of sewer and drainage all relatively easy to obtain. Then its just a matter of emailing a couple of Building Designers of your choice. Some photos of the side elevation will help in determining an approximate slope, you could employ a surveyor to do a site survey with falls and features (you would most likely will need to employ one eventually - especially if you are going to build close to boundaries or renew any fencing - should have your block surveyed so that you don't suddenly become noted by any surprises in relation to boundaries.) 3. When you are happy with your layout (Sketch Design) you can then employ a Building Designer/Architect/Drafts-person to provide you with documents for a Town Planning application and a Building Permit as required. In the long run you could save some money, by this process, and get your preferred outcome. I have done initial sketch plans for a few clients and it generally results in a fruitful outcome. 4. Both Bedroom 1 and 2 seem to be ample in size, however storage (Walk in Robes) are slightly small especially for a master bedroom. So reclaiming the downstairs space for bedrooms seem to be the way to go , you would certainly have to seal the garage exhaust fumes from such area and may be provide a new internal stair link to the main area. These are the sort of issues that can be sorted out with a little bit of "design work" ideas to determine the best solution. Regards Michael Manias - mm407p@gmail.com Building Designers

Hi Lil, I believe your original plan works much better than the revised version. While the notion of ideal working widths is great, the larger problem here is the post. I worked on a project very similar to this last year where a post could either be connect to, or separate from the island. What we found was that by separating the island the space between island and post became very awkward. It's not enough of a space to comfortably walk through or be seated at the island in front of. Instead of your room feeling open and generous in proportion, it is going to start to feel cramped and awkward. We have a kitchen in our showroom (Kitchen Studio Tauranga NZ) with a 6ft gap between bench and back wall and it works wonderfully. It allows someone to work at the sink and a second at the island with ease. Stick with the original plan. It will feel a lot more spacious, without compromising work flows.

I've been playing around with a pantry location. Originally, I was going to move the pantry into the laundry with some custom shelving and cut the laundry space in half. Now, Im thinking of cutting into the study area and building a wall there, and converting the new space into a long and narrow walk in pantry. Either that or build half a wall and put built in shelving in the study. Building the extra wall will reduce the need to cover in the door way that is currently in place and instead utilising it. Thoughts? p.s. this isnt too scale.

Hi there, I love the look of your 50's kitchen: takes me back to my childhood home but our kitchen was about 4 cupboards and 3 overheads!! By todays std it was like one of the pantries people are putting in!! I was impressed with the "see what you need to store first": that is the best place to start, then thought glass display cupboards were all the go but you have those! Unless you could copy them for the corners? Then I thought open shelving with micro on one: NEVER on the bench. Timber shelves could have bright multi coloured glass or china which was all the rage! Please tho do not go for the lounge curtains with red, orange and every other colour large squares: nothing subtle or quiet about them and nothing nice about them either!! Cheers Margot