First, congrats! It's exciting to build a home like this.

I think your question about the kitchen is warranted, and a skylight would be a good way to take care of the light.

The other overall comment is about function. Not knowing your family or your lifestyle, one of the most important design considerations is not aesthetic, its how you'll use the space. When I saw the retreat right next to bed 3 and 4, I wondered if you could actually retreat if people were going in and out of those rooms.
So I'd sit down and take an hour or two to think through your days both during the week and the weekend. Who gets up first? Where do they need to go and what do they do? How do you spend your leisure time and is the home set up for that?

As an example in the home that I'm building, when I leave the master bedroom and go into the master bath, I can 'escape' into the rest of the house through a door the walk in closet. This is because I get up much earlier than my husband and I can have less chance of disturbing him.

Also we made sure that each room had at least one 'point of delight'... An oversized window, an unusual angled wall, a shadow box for art display... So there is something that delights us in each space as we walk from room to room.

Hope this is helpful and good luck!

A very good point about the retreat area, that's why we have it away from the masterbedroom, kids are still young but as they become teenagers they will be going to bed later than parents and waking up earlier, and also used the ensuite area to seperate the room away from the kids.

Overall I think you have come up with a good liveable plan with plenty of storage - a must! A couple of suggestions.

Depending the age of your children and how long you intend to stay in the home, my preference would be to have the master suite downstairs and the guest bedroom upstairs, but this would mean expanding the area downstairs which may not be an option. Alternatively I would put a full height door (so it doesn't enclose the area) either at the top of the stairs to the master area or across the hall to the bathroom. The area for the kids is great but as they get older it will no doubt be a popular space and with sleepovers etc an additional door will provide a quiet zone from the noise/chatter instead of carrying up the hall.

Downstairs I would swap the bathroom and laundry and have an additional door from the laundry into the butlers pantry. This would still give you access down the stairs to the laundry but save the trek back and forth from the kitchen/ living where you will be spending most of your time. It will also be easier to track how the washing is going instead of having to walk around and check.

I have found that walk in pantries don't maximise the space and it is often difficult to get to items lower down. For this reason in my last couple of homes I designed pantries with drawers and doors. I can double the holding capacity and have ease of access. I have attached a pic of the ones in our latest build. The grey cupboard has food items in the drawers - cans, dry goods, biscuits etc and the bottom drawer has plastic containers for potatoes, onions etc. On the first shelf behind the doors is cereal, bread, sauces and then storage of rarely used items above. In the lighter cupboard is everything to do with cooking. In the drawers flour, rice, spices cooking trays, scales, bowls in and on the shelves electrical items. I also have a power point at the back of the bottom shelf for when I have something quick to do and don't want to pull everything out.

In the kitchen itself I would take the sink off the breakfast bar to free up the space and put it on the back wall. If right handed I would put the stove top as far as possible in the left hand corner and the sink as far as possible in the right hand corner with bench space between. I find this works very easily and prevents the need to carry hot items from the stove across to the sink. Much easier to walk along the bench. It will also hide any items out of sight from the living area. I don't have that set up in my current house but in my last two homes I did and put downlights underneath the overhead cupboards so light wasn't an issue, but there is the option of a long narrow window instead of a splash back if having enough light is a concern.
Regards
Vicky

Very informative information Vicky, wife totally agrees on the sink been removed as this was a debate when complying our brief and wishlist, the argument now has been persuaded.

The guest room has been left downstairs to cater for grandparents to minimise walking up stairs as they get older would be more difficult walking onto level.

Children age is 10 and 8 as this has been asked previously threads.

The pantry suggestions you have provided are very clever and will consider when we meet the joiner and provide him some further options as you suggested.

Hi there- I understand your comments as I am a grandparent and I immediately thought of the stairs! With the guest room set up as it is you could always move in down the track if age started to be an issue. Probably a long way into the future for you but being at that end now it is something I think of. All the best with your build. I look forward to seeing pics.

My thoughts are that there isn't that much space downstairs for storage, as far as I can tell. Where do/will your kids play/study? If it will be in the living are then maybe the 'dead' space between dining and kitchen could be setup as an area for them to play, with storage for their toys, and in the future as study space. I can't see the measurements on my phone, so I'm not sure how much space is there.

Also, every house with a flat roof that I have lived in has leaked. Admittedly they were built at the earliest about 30 years ago, which your new house definitely isn't :-) but one of the problems is that if the guttering isn't built to handle lots of water, it tends to flow back into the house.

Do you need two bathrooms downstairs? I can understand a bathroom for the guest room and a powder room but you look to have two bathrooms.

What furniture are you going to have in the dining area and the meals area? Do you intend to have two dining tables?

Flat roof and guttering was discussed initially with the designer and he stated tha the roof will be split into 2 halves from the centre of to minimise water run off and reduce the size if guttering.
Will have a large dining table to seat 8 -10 people and the meals room will use the island breakfast bar as our everyday eating.
The guest room has its own bathroom and powder to create greater convenience and make the area feeling more welcoming and give the grandparents a stayover treat.

"Will have a large dining table to seat 8 -10 people and the meals room will use the island breakfast bar as our everyday eating."

It looks like a large impractical wasted space, like an oversized corridor.

"The guest room has its own bathroom and powder to create greater convenience and make the area feeling more welcoming and give the grandparents a stayover treat."

There is a room labelled powder room beside the guest bed and accessed from the corridor. There is a room labelled bath beside the laundry which also has a shower.

So I'm puzzled by two things.

Ought not the room beside the guest room be labelled bath? Didn't you want direct private access from the guest room to the bath?

The other room beside the laundry is what I would of called the powder room. But it also has a shower and I'm wondering why?

Matt some valid comments, really appreciated, you sound like you have a wealth of knowledge. We have selected a custom building company that has a inhouse designer to design to our spec and most importantly to our budget. The bathroom near the laundry is their should guests want to have a shower after using the pool they don't access through the home but can walk along side with wet swimmers . This also avoids building another outdoor shower to cater for the pool users.
The open living space has been created to compensate for the narrow long corridor and lack of foyer area due to land narrow constraints. Also our current living home arrangements are very small and tight and we feel like we need that large open space both for functionality and to create open living and intergrate the outdoor with the indoor.
Not sure what you mean "you can create something very special" How would you make it special in your opinion and expertise?
thanks for the discussions and opinions so far its very pleasing to see people taking time out and providing their opinions to assist a first time home builder. This is exciting never thought we would receive so much constructive critisim on a design that we saw as almost perfect for our family needs.

I agree with MB Design & Drafting that the lower level is worth reworking.

I don't think the big space in the middle compensates for anything, I still think it is not conducive to furniture layout and basically just wasted.

Is it not possible to move the garage out to widen the entry? Looking at it again, am I reading it right, the garage is 5.5m wide?

If the other bathroom serves the pool have you thought about having direct access instead of through the laundry?

Agree with a lot of the comments above, including:

- garage is too small... 6x6m internally at a minimum for a double garage

- if second bathroom downstairs is for pool goers then would make more sense to have direct door access from laundry to bathroom... would also be better if garage-mud room-laundry were connected

- a 'highlight' type window e.g. 06x24 along the width of the cooktop/sink benchtop which would let more light in is more what I would call a kitchen plashback window, and not those two small square windows on either side of the cooktop

- a door to the butler's pantry and a further door to the walk-in pantry seems excessive, one or the other will do and there's probably no need for a door from the kitchen to B.P. if the cabinetry will be the same

- unless someone will be working from home, it doesn't make sense to have such a big study when the main bathroom upstairs which is to service three bedrooms is so small

- balcony at the front of the house is costly and will never get used, if you really want a balcony then wouldn't it be better overlooking the pool off the 'retreat' which I presume is more the kids retreat/rumpus (the word 'retreat' is confusing as it's generally used for parents)

- also think/consider furniture placement now at the design stage e.g. with those balcony doors, master bed against which wall?

- and don't forget the exterior esthetics of the house... I count over 8 different types of windows and all different sizes, not very pleasing when looking at the house externally, try to keep more consistency with your choice of windows (and doors)

Guest bedroom - for aging in place, I would put in a double sliding door arrangement at the hall, so when guests are in residence, whatever they choose to wear ( or not ) to bed, is not on show as they walk to the bathroom. The doors could be slide back into the pockets when nobody is using, to provide a more spacious corridor. Also, make sure that the other doors are wide enough for a wheelchair. It will add to the spacious feel, and is much easier than retrofitting later. Equally, when you redesign the downstairs, can you lose the steps in the corridor? It would make the living area much more accessible.

The open space at the stairs looks awkward. Could you consider putting the media room where the guest bedroom is, moving the stairs closer to the front door and putting in sound insulation for the guest room closer to the kitchen.

I like the suggestion above of direct access to the kitchen from the laundry, but I am also a big fan of moving the kitchen to provide better access to the al fresco area

For the walk in pantry, I would look at sliding pocket doors to maximise your space.

I agree with a lot of the other comments:

- the guest bathroom (next to the guest bedroom) should either be an ensuite or the hallway should have doors so that the guests can move from the bedroom to the bathroom without entering "public" space

- if you can get rid of the stairs downstairs, it would be good

- I would combine the mud room and laundry as they seem to serve a similar function, so I'm not sure two separate rooms are necessary

- if the second full bathroom downstairs is for people to use after being in the pool, then I would consider including a door to allow direct access or at least putting a door between the laundry and bath so that they don't drip pool water over the non-tiled floors

- there seems to be a lot of dead space between the home theatre and the kitchen. I'm having trouble thinking of a functional use for that space. It might suit a dining table, but that is unnecessary since the dining room is only a couple of metres away

- the kitchen seems small in comparison to the scale of the dead space and the dining and leisure rooms. Do you regularly hire help when you're entertaining to work in the butler's pantry? If not, I would consider opening up the kitchen by getting rid of the butler's pantry. I know they're on trend, but I wouldn't want to be hidden away in a small room when entertaining and I certainly don't have any "hired help" to hide away

- the home theatre has a lot of windows for a room which ideally should be dark. Quality blinds will help, but you could consider reducing the number and size of the windows

- if you're planning on having a TV in the leisure room, think about where it would be placed as there are a lot of windows and now much "wall"

- instead of two small windows in the kitchen, I would consider having a window splashback (frosted or clear)

- I would consider flipping the stairs so that the hallway opens up to an "open space" sooner rather than later

- the study, WIR and ensuite all seem to be unnecessarily large, at the expense of the size of the retreat and main bathroom

- if the ensuite remains the same size, I would at last try to separate the toilet so that there is more visual and sound privacy

- with two children, I would try to turn the main bathroom into a three way bathroom (i.e. separate toilet, vanity and wet room (bath/shower)) to make it as versatile and multiple user friendly as possible

- I would put the robe in Bed 4 on the other wall to allow for a larger window on the current wall

- consider the furniture placement in the retreat, as the placement of the window and linen cupboard may limit your use of the space

- if the children won't be using the study for homework in the future, then consider including a built in study area in the retreat. If they will use the study for homework in the future, then consider it's placement as teenagers like late night cramming sessions before urgent deadlines and the noise and light may disturb the occupants of the main bedroom

- if the pool is in the backyard, then I would consider moving the balcony to the back

- I don't love the "squared" off faux edges of the façade, but that's a personal choice

Good luck!

Provided some existing furniture sizes to the designer before the christmas break to give us a better insight on how the furniture will be placed and what space is provided around the home. Attached is the furniture layout

The theatre room is more of a living space should we as parents or grandparents want to be in a more quieter area and not socialising with teenagers but keeping an eye on the youngsters and giving them space and allowing to bring friends over and giving them freedom and trying to keep them out of trouble.

The Butler pantry door is what the wife has requested should she be preparing dinner parties and doesn't have enough time to totally clean up can just close the door and hide the mess so the guests don't see the mess.

The reason for the 2 small windows was to have a cleanable splasback behind the cooktop as constant cleaning will be required as wife is a clean freak but will suggest to shift to the RH corner towards the BP and install a long window to allow more sunlight as suggested in previous post by haephestus

Valid point about the guestroom having its own ensuite and creating a ensuite.

The steps are required as the land slopes towards the west boundary (entrance)

Garage and guestroom is very limited in size due to land and council constraints and very hard to extend and provide 6.0 x 6.0.
Some nice points mentioned which we will be discussing around Christmas holiday. Can someone advise where i can find plan layouts so i can view for the ground level options as mentioned previously if i go to homeworld then the house will look like a project home, but driving around sydney and door knocking on exclusive designs is also a hard ask.

Re: Finding other designs - check open home listings, whether in your neighbourhood or the more affluent neighbourhoods where the residents may have had bigger budgets, for unique, architectural designs and then head along to the inspections. And don't dismiss door knocking - most people would probably be flattered if you complimented their design and may invite you in for a better look.

If you are after plans of architecturally designed homes, magazines may be your best bet (try libraries as you are unlikely to get most at the newsagent), however there are also a number of open homes and architecturally designed homes that are open to the public, including the Rose Seidler House. Also, if you are trying to get away from the kit-home look, take note of how the architects and designers use everyday material creatively in unexpected ways to achieve a highly polished look.

As for your floor plans, further work is needed to the downstairs plan. I would seriously question whether you need two bathrooms downstairs. The bathroom for the guest room could be used by everyone (maybe consider setting it up as a three-way bathroom). You can remove the doors between the pantry and the butler's pantry, it is already hidden and just uses up space. As MB Design & Drafting has said, there is a lot of empty space on the downstairs plan and there is going to be an empty void around the meals area.

Also of note, try to have continuity in your windows - that is, try to minimise the number of different sized windows and ensure they are standard sizes where possible (its cheaper and more cost effective to make 10 of one thing rather than 10 custom sizes); and try to ensure that the header and sills have a relationship.

You have engaged an architect as you feel they are able to successfully design you ideal home. I would suggest giving the architect the ability to experiment and push your brief, otherwise you are doing yourself and them a disservice and you should have gone to a draftsperson how would have simply just drawn up your ideas as you stated them.

You are on the right track, so don't give up! Often a design needs lots of discussion between the client and the architect before a great design can be achieved. Whilst it is wonderful that public forums such as this exist, ultimately the discussion needs to occur between yourselves and the architect as you are the ones who will be living there. Take time to listen to their ideas, and don't be afraid to question something you don't understand.

Looked at the guestroom dimension and believe will be very tight for a older couple as 2850 x3.0 for a double size bed will leave very little room around the bed. I am thinking of making this a void foyer area and move the main entrance to the northern boundary and hopefully make the garage larger and add a storage area attached to the garage to allow to store my tools of the trade.

Having just moved into our custom designed home - which I've already changed several times, I'd note the following to the design

1. Kitchen - reduce the sink size and put it one end, I had a massive open bench which I love, but have put a small prep sink in it now as I prep all of my meals on it, and it was such a pain having to to constantly move across the walkway when preparing meals. You have a butlers sink so don't really need to two large sinks

2. The flat wall along the back of the pantry etc... should be utilised for a 'study area' for the kids. I also have kids, and they are constantly spreadout either over the dining table or across the island bench when they need help. Using concealed doors such as pocket doors, this could become a very useable space.

3. the retreat and the study upstairs needs to change around. I would be putting the study downstairs somehow and making a kids rumpus upstairs with TV so when entertaining you can separate kids from adults. Plus, when you get the mail etc... it's much easier to have the study downstairs.

4. The guest room, this layout with the wet area needs to change. If it's going t be for elderly people in future it is well worth increasing the size of the bathroom and also the shower. The shower should be big enough to have a bench seat in it for the older generations.

5. Storage space - there isn't any. Just about every house I see these days has the cars parked out front because nobody has any storage space!

6. Flat Roof - tell your architect to use a TPO or Butynol - excellent products with huge warranties.

Good luck

Sorry - just re-read and wanted to add a few more things

1. Master Ensuite - put a door on the toilet! best thing we ever did! the ensuite is still useable with two of you in there.

2. We're changing our cabinetry to add a hidden pull out laundry basket inside each bathroom/wet area - I hate clothes baskets in bedrooms

3. Flat roof insulation - again - research Ardex TPO in white. It's used for heat resistance on commercial buildings etc... to lower their cooling costs due to reflectivity and is reasonably priced.

4. Use louvred windows wherever you can for better airflow - just make sure you make the reveal deep enough to hang blinds etc.. over the top when they're open

5. You will eventually hate the position of the robe in bed 4 as you need to walk to the other side of the room to get dressed and put clothes away etc...

6. Allow for a wall mounted, hidden panel ironing board somewhere easy

7. Build a display niche along the diagonal wall of the media room

8. Consider changing the layout of the bath upstairs to have the sink separate to the shower/bath - especially handy when you'e got two kids trying to get ready for school in the morning at the same time

9. Skylight in the walk in robe

10. Remove the window above the master bed head -nowhere to hang artwork if that's your thing

11. Remove the solid wall balustrade at the front - you've got great space here and you'll block out any breeze you may potentially get.

12. Delete the upstairs study and make the bed 2 and Bed 3 bigger - include built in desk areas with cabinetry for when they get older and they need study space

13. Where is the clothesline going? It looks like you can't have a wall hung one on the house as the windows are too low? Also, you'll need to put in a small deck or something on that side or you'll constantly be going up and downstairs to hang washing out - something minor, but may be of consideration with older people in the house.

14. Go a flat roof and see if you can make a private roof deck area from the master where you could one day put a spa!

That's it : )

Welcome all Houzzo lovers this forum is fantastic, good to see how professional readers are offering their services and advice to provide solutions. Grace design studio contacted our family to provide some alternative design options from our first draft and also provide their own design. She was very particular and professional and provided a very clever functional home layout that has all our ideas factored in the design with some clever options. Windows are standard sizes to keep build cost down and within our budget.

Kitchen Area has serving bench into alfresco area which will serve our guests and family.

Attached are the amended designs they provided. Not sure about the walk through via the study area into the master bedroom, overall we love this design and can't wait until we submit for a D.A.

I much prefer the downstairs area, but I do agree about the upstairs area. Walking through the study to get to the master takes away the 'grandeur' that's meant to be associated with the master, especially with a modern design home like this. Turn the study into the retreat and open up the study so that everyone can use it. Especially as the kids get older and they need somewhere to spread out.

Plus the retreat

then utilises the balcony which seems a waste in an office.

I've done a quick sketch attached - apologies for the messiness of the sketch.

I love the design by Grace design studio and the alternative bedroom entry suggestion by wetlock is good.

I don't think it would bother me to enter the bedroom through the study if that study is for the exclusive use of the bedroom occupants and the rest of the family have another study area elsewhere. What I don't like is to enter the ensuite through the walk in robe. But it's now looking like a much better design without wasted or illogical spaces so think about what you prefer and what details you might tweak to suit you.

Thanks wetlock for you idea, have looked and studied your plan but the study is now a nook room and will not function once the clones get older and goto higher studies and the books keep piling over the years...

Thank you very much for your feedback jammomuzo and I am very pleased that you are excited about the amended design that was prepared for you and your family. It is always always a pleasure to design a house that will become a family home.

Ok, so I've read all of the comments, viewed plans and am now invested in the project so I'd love to hear what the outcome was, if the final design is built yet or in progress, and see some photos.