Hi Amir, thank you. Yes, budgets are usually an issue. There is no real issue with having the kitchen as above to minimise moving plumbing and electrical - I totally get that. I like the addition of an area that denotes an entrance foyer, as in the above sketch. I don't know the style or era of the home, but privacy screens are a great way to delineate spaces without putting up walls. For example, the back wall of the 'foyer' could be a privacy screen and also between the kitchen and lounge areas. Laminex has a great range of indoor and outdoor privacy screens. Also, could you make the kitchen island big enough so you can dine there too? Kitchen islands can be two levels, one for cook and prep and the other for dining - or the same height and use bar stools. I think this also comes down to how you like to eat, whether you entertain a lot and whether you have kids. This could mean you don't have to use space for a dining table or just have a smaller, round table for four in a corner. I hope these suggestions give you some more ideas about privacy and the best use of space :-) Cheers, Penelope

I have some more photos if needed. The space is used very badly in my opinion, and the spaces are quite small. We think we might brick in the windows to the floor, and have a window on the upper section only as we are rendering the outside of the house so this 'should' work and give us some more space. We have just had blackbutt vinyl planks laid through the rest of the house, and charcoal carpet in the bedrooms. We both like a more minimal style and would like to take the idea of the charcoal through to the bathroom but in a much lighter tone than our carpets. Definitely want to keep a bath in the main bathroom - I love my baths!!! Both bathrooms only have a shower space of 1m x 1m at most and we would like that bigger. Ideally I'd love to work out how to fit a larger vanity in the ENsuite - and we also think we can change the sliding door to a solid door that slides into the wall cavity to give us that space back. Does that all help? SOrry if I've uploaded badly with all the different posts!!!

Some comments, I hope they are helpful. Create a gravelled area for your fire pit. Laying a some sand, levelling off, a weed barrier and raking gravel is within the skill set of most handy people. Use treated timber for an edging to keep it neat. Buy a nice ready made steel fire pit. Buy some seating. Your planting lacks a scheme. Without a scheme your yard will not look put together the way professional landscaping does. Every plant has to be chosen for a purpose (texture, height, colour, privacy etc). You also have all your garden beds in a perimeter against the fence. That's fine for a starting point. But to make the place look inviting you need some garden beds in the yard too. Please avoid the common habit of putting shrubs in the middle of the lawn. It doesn't work well and also makes maintaining your lawn difficult. If you want to make say the entertaining area private from the kids play area a full garden bed is usually a better bet than just a shrub or two. By putting multiple shrubs of varying heights and a creeper in a larger section you create outdoor zones and properly define the area. What you really need to do is measure your yard, draw in your house and all paths and then start drawing in the entertaining area, the kids play area, the veggie patch etc. You will probably have to play around with the layout for a while to come up with something you like and works. Trust me, doing this first will save you a lot off $$ on plantings that don't work and you want to remove later. When you create garden beds do it with three heights. So something under 6" tall, something under 2ft tall and then something over 3ft. Not a definite rule but a good rule of thumb. By having multiple levels in your garden beds you create a more impactful and interesting garden. When gardens are meh, its usually because all the plantings are the same height and it looks flat. Take a look at these gardens to see what I mean.... Alright this fire pit is obviously professionally done, but what you need to look at is how the fire pit is clearly separated from the rest of the yard. The seating creates an outdoor room feel. But also if you look behind the seating there is also a large garden bed behind it. Although the scheme isn't finished my bet is that some tall screening plants are likely to be planted there to create a more intimate mood and shade from summer sun. Having garden beds define a feature really works. This is what I mean about having layers in your garden beds. If this yard was just a row of trees along the fence and then say a low hedge in this front bed it would look okay but not great. They have used different colours, textures and heights all in the same bed here to create something much more interesting. The planters in that corner also create height with the strappy plants. This is why you need to plan our your whole garden so you know that all the plants across the yard work together coherently.

That’s a great site Clarence, also check Fleming’s for great suggestions, Gardening with Angus, some Lilly pilly are prone to pests and diseases, getting them treated before planting is wise so nothing attacks other planting. You could also have a fire pit that could double as a piece of art when not in use. pyrus underplanted with star jasmine , and adding solar lighting gives an extra dimension and looks fabulous.