Hi, Could you take a photo and upload it in the comments - perhaps with a smartphone? It would be great to see what colours your floor and furniture are.

Well, here's a concrete example for him. Our bed is 2200. The wall at the end of the bed is 3200 from the wall at the head. I decided it was too tight to get my 500 dresser in at the end of the bed, so I put in a 300 bookcase. The space between bed and bookcase (ie 700) is fine - not ideal, maybe, but entirely workable. Don't sweat the small stuff. Your plan looks fine, and you've got room at the end of your bed for a nice sitting area.

$3000 is not a lot of money to spend on a make-over. This means that your decsions will be guided by your budget, and what you can live with, and what needs replacing. For instance if the carpet is in a good usable condition (I can't see from the photos or information), then use that as a starting point for the choice of colours and materials for the rest of the space. Your budget will exclude any changes other than paint to your ensuite and existing cabinetwork. One of the most important aspects of a bedroom makeover is the window furnishings to make sure that they block out enough light for those early summer mornings, and keep the heat in during thise cold winter nights. Careful selection of bedside lights can give you a lot of bang for your buck, as can a fresh coat of paint. Unfortunately only generalisations can be made about your makeover without any understanding of the rest of the room, the location of the ensuite, your climate, your existing furniture, the orientation and the type of doors. Good design is informed by understanding the client, the constraints, and the opportunities. You have not provided any meaningful information for a meaningful response. Best of luck Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

I wouldn't. If having a master suite were important to me I would buy a modern home that has one. The thing about historic homes is that they typically had three equal sized bedrooms. It's part of the character of the home. If you combine two squareish bedrooms you will end up with a strangely shaped rectangular room that's not really all that useful. Particularly as you mention they both have french doors that go to a verandah. Those doors pretty much limits what you can do with the rooms. You will be trying to either preserve the symmetry of the doors or build a wardrobe wall up close to one and have the whole look of the room thrown off. A heritage home is what it is. It's never going to be a modern home and it's limitations are what people expect when they buy one. The limitation is a traditional floorplan that doesn't necessarily reflect modern lifestyle choices. One conversion that is often done on federations is part of the verandah is built in, and turned into a WIR or ensuite. Many of these homes already have built-in verandah sections so doing so won't necessarily ruin the character. Particularly if you infill them with a nice casement windows and appropriate trims on the outside.