Hi Sophie, I immediately agree with the suggestion to remove the angled/chamfered wall to the bedroom entry and create a small lobby, although a good alternative is to consider a straight-run stair and adding a corridor wall to create a 'private' zone - then toilet can stay where it is, tucked in under stair, and privacy (and acoustic/smell separation to the toilet) is created for living and master bedroom. This might mean widening the kitchen room by 100mm or so (noting some reductions mentioned below) and mirroring the bathroom/rumpus arrangement upstairs - it does create a bit more circulation but adds a lovely sense of space when don't have your main circulation through the middle of a room. The laundry pantry is not the usual arrangement - and the distance needed to travel to the linen cupboard is excessive. I would definitely flip the arrangement of laundry /pantry and try to turn the linen into some kind of study nook off the new corridor - and get rid of the tiny desk near the front door!! Imagine that lovely living space with light coming in from the porch which is facing north. That brings up the final comment that north is where the garage is and the main kitchen is therefore south-east facing, this is fine for morning but it is darker for the afternoons. This is a bit harder to change, but the kitchen could be reworked to turn through 90 degrees to face the garden but extend across to the west facade to allow afternoon light in. The nook could be deleted (which blocks afternoon light to deck) and the deck could extend or wrap around the corner for afternoon light. A little corner of deck in the afternoon sun you would never regret! Your draftie designer would need to look at this in detail as the west external wall would might need to shift inwards and south widen into garden, but if afternoon light is important to you then I would encourage you to consider this change too.

yes it's interesting how the Brits like closed off rooms. I watch those UK home shows & thy seem to all says "don't want cooking smells" but don't they have good extraction fan rangehoods there like we do? I've also wondered why they don't have/ install proper air conditioning there that warms, cools & filters the air? Wonder if now their summers are getting hotter if they'll embrace it. I certainly thing you can have the best of both worlds in the right house, open kitchen dining living & then maybe a seperate living or reception room as they call them in the UK. Also if you have nice big bedrooms & master suite you can escape there for peace & quet. Interesting the differences between countries.

I've been playing around with a pantry location. Originally, I was going to move the pantry into the laundry with some custom shelving and cut the laundry space in half. Now, Im thinking of cutting into the study area and building a wall there, and converting the new space into a long and narrow walk in pantry. Either that or build half a wall and put built in shelving in the study. Building the extra wall will reduce the need to cover in the door way that is currently in place and instead utilising it. Thoughts? p.s. this isnt too scale.

Is this a bit of deja vu???.... IMO both concepts are (still) arguably unbalanced in terms of building program to site. Putting a whole lot of architectural/building articulation issues aside the glaringly obvious thing missing for a growing family brief scenario is having a designated 2nd living zone/teenagers retreat/playroom zoned with the kids bedrooms. What you have in both options are kind of versions of the same, relatively large homes with essentially one singular living zone. When we deal with residences/project brief at this scale (5 Bedrooms +) it makes sense for maximising living flexibility (over the different/evolving stages of family life) that you have 2 separated living zones...and no a theatre room next to the main living room or associated with etc master area doesn't count/work in this way...what i mean is a rumpus or a playroom that is in a different "wing" or zone so you can properly separate adults and kids or adults and teenagers when required. Sure keep the centralised main living, but options of function are always positive........ But as always nobody should tell anyone how they should be living - this stuff always comes down to understanding and prioritising your various living requirements and at the end of the day it's your own personal opinion and not necessarily right or wrong, or "better".....it's what suits YOU and your needs most appropriately/effectively best of luck! PD :)