The north is very important to get that natural light, if you have the money to do that two floor void, then heaps of natural light can flood into the space. If that is not possible than lighting, colour, windows and doors can help. The connection from house to garden is just as important as we tend to spend a equal amount of time outdoors if designed to the conditions, and don't forget the garden, that done well can extend the house from inside to outside rooms to garden in one big space, with paths and focal points to make it an experience to be in. You need to seek professional advice from someone who will help you understand the requirements from council, the building process, and the cost associated with those processes, and the best way to make the available funds work to your best advantage. There are very few clients who have unlimited budget and in an ideal world where you are lucky to start from scratch and design the house of your dreams, twisting to take advantage of views, light and site conditions, renovating an existing house is normally full of compromises. Renovation is always more expensive than building new, even twice as expensive depending on the house. Ideally the bedrooms should be grouped together with living to the opposite end. That may make sense if the children are young but does not make sense with older children even the ones studying and still living at home, or you are planning on renting out a room. Another factor is length of time at the house, is this a forever house or short term stay, that also should figure into the design. A good Architect Interior Designer is worth their weight in gold, and will be able to take you from this stage to the built form with ease. Seek one who can draw in 3D as that takes out a lot of guess work. good luck

G'day Folks, My wife and I, like Jess (Strons) am a very proud owners of Nore Furniture, still used daily, and purchased in the late 70's! The collection includes a dining Table/dining and lounge chairs, coffee/lamp tables, and a Buffet. Interstingly, when we have visitors, the two Nore lounge chairs in the lounge are always taken before the modern lounge suite is used. (which annoys me, as the Nore furniture are the more comfortable by far) The remaining items are used in our Family/Ding area. Due to having constant use over the last 6 years with grand children, several of these magnificent pieces of Art are needing a little lift, re damaged finish. If your father does remember the stain details, I would appreciate his advice! The pride, skill, and love that went into this furniture still shines thru to this day! Cheers Dennis

For storage, I used a mirrored lift up cupboard door above the sink area in my very small ensuite with some success. We put power points inside the cupboard too - it was a very good place to have them as the door lifts up & is out of the way. I also used some of the wall space to allow slightly deeper shelves, without the cupboard jutting so far into the room. The cistern was recessed into the wall cavity, (in our case below the window) & it worked well to save a little space in the room. Photos are not very good, but I hope you can get the idea.. It worked very well. The ensuite was 1mx2m. We use vertical towel rails. They're really good & very compact, but do make sure the electrician installs them up the right way. They work on the heat rising principal & do not work well upside down as ours were installed!Hope this is helpful. Good luck.

siriuskey, Yes, the courtyard is open to the sky (no roof over it), I assume this is what you mean by double story. Ref. below photos, I would love to get this look, especially the first and last photo, where you can see family living space from the first floor. I can't achieve this in my plan as it eats a lot of floor space upstairs. The referred plan (photos) has a very big void combining staircase, hallway and dining area. I know it is not easy with cooling and heating when you have such a big void. So, I explored a few ideas (with my limited knowledge on this topic) before achieving the current floorplan. I have also thought about, in my current plan, extending the void on the staircase to the dining area (it is more like L shape) but i wasn't sure if that makes any difference. keen to hear your thoughts.