Gorgeous brick pavers, I love that look for the floor! It has a rustic appearance yet you're right- sophisticated, even an elegance. I think this would suit the feeling I'm wanting for the room, the pine boards have a rustic appearance, this would go well with them. We have a 1m square oak table with cross back chairs for the dining section and a La Spezia 3 light pendant (Beacon), farmhouse sink, timber hood cover to give you an idea of the look we're going for. Thanks very much for your thoughts on this. I like the idea you're going with, but yes, we have the window and door in already. Door could be trimmed if necessary. It wasn't until the window was already made and the wall sheets and cladding was removed that we realised the original kitchen layout had the back door next to the window, and the door into the laundry section was a modification. I most likely would have put it back where it was originally or had double doors. It made no logical sense for the back door to be a thoroughfare through the laundry, eliminating valuable storage space. I may have just left the kitchen in the original layout and made an entry into the laundry from the kitchen side for a laundry/butler's pantry with fridge in there. Removed the side window for more wall space for storage and changed the existing door to a window. But it's too late now, the outside of the house has all been newly clad so doors and windows are as is. There's no other possible place in the house for a laundry. It is a very tight space. Plan to build an external laundry studio in the future. The one in the house would be temporary, yet need it to accommodate a washer dryer combo for now, and be suitable for prospective buyers/renters in future if the external laundry doesn't eventuate. This is the original 1960's floor plan. A previous owner made internal access into the laundry and made bench space where the original back door was, the next owners opened up the living to dining room and blocked up the hallway doorway which became the fridge space. The cornice didn't match up in the hallway though where the old doorway was. They had made a shelf from the cut out on the hallway side, and the protruding section in the kitchen side became a kind of bulkhead for the fridge. Old hallway We've rebuilt this so that it could have an upper cabinet on the kitchen side/ hallway later if needed. But the lack of space in the hallway didn't allow us to build a linen cupboard, so that will also be needed to be included somewhere in the house. At this stage, thinking we will have to configure the laundry space to have a linen cupboard/ broom cupboard between the dining room and laundry section. Open to ideas too for storage in that limited laundry area space. I'll add more measurements to the floor plan for reference.

Hi and thanks for your feedback. The rear building might now move further around to the north of the !7 acre rural block (2+ hours from Melbourne), where there is a flatter patch. We are now hoping to make it 2 story, with the storage shed below and living above. That way the huge views to the south and east can be seen over the top of the house. The idea is to build the shed (with studio accom) hopefully at the end of 2020, as a place to stay while the house building starts towards the end of 2021, when we will have the funds, fingers crossed. The width of the building area is only about 30 metres before it dips away a bit steeply to the east and west. We hope to avoid too much excavating for a slab (for thermal mass) but may need to consider stumps if the slab is far more costly. Looking at Carbonlite floor system as a reluctant alternative... A local architect has done the initial design to maximise the views and northern sun. We think the slight kink in the middle will add complexity to the roof so the kink can go. It is a big 'entry' which might need to go to cut costs but we do want an 'air lock' entry... The hallway along the bedrooms is intended to warm up in winter, ideally trombe wall style. We hope to keep the house to about 150 sq meters- we don't need bigger. The council has indicated where the dispersal field for the septic tank needs to go... We love the reverse brick veneer principle. The architect has been fairly open to our ideas but says the budget will be tight at approx $3,500 per sq meter. How does an internal masonry spine work? We figured a continuous skillion roof would be simpler and cheaper- going for a rural shed look...

Currently, the narrowest part of the family/living is 3.8 meters, plus 1.9 meters of laundry room. I'm planning to have the TV on the other side of the robe of bedroom 2, sofa in the middle and dining table near the sliding door. It's for a young family with 1-2 kids. Even with small changes everything needs to be redone including kitchen cabinets, plumbing, tiles etc. Is there a way to add an island ? Or incorporate the laundry with the kitchen, eg two sinks in the kitchen (one for kitchen and one for laundry) and hide the washing machine in the cabinets below the benches? I'd like to feel more open visually, however, cabinets space is precious too. Garage is 3.2 meters wide. The permeable paving area outside the garage is to park another car. Could the laundry be on the way?

View from powder room with door open is looking through the hallway section into an office / spare bedroom built in wardrobe (if the door is open). Not too concerned with that as door to room is usually closed. I definitely think I'd prefer to save that money and use it on something else, like maybe popping in a little basin over the top of the toilet.... I think it also creates easier access to the toilet when in the main part of the house instead of so another turn... Re the measurements: 930 x 2130 for laundry external door including trim. Also, I am currently just having a look at revamping the toilet room and am in process of painting the walls antique white from a very dark purple (don't worry, going to add interest in there somewhere won't be all white haha) and now figuring out how to embrace the tiles I have with some design and colour choices with walls and window trim or resurface them.. I have a photo below if anyone has ideas but maybe this warrants another post in a different section.. (also note i had to paint on the top of the wall tiles in a line as previous painter had done a shocker of a job...) I am contemplating a toilet/basin unit to save space and putting a kind of inserted custom shelf and frame option in the window to hide it (ugly old window with old paint marks all around the outside) to put plants and some small glass vases on but still have some light coming through. (Also, can't remove the window as I can't match the bricks outside (80's mottled brick) as directly in front of entertaining area. I also can't afford to replace at this stage).