Our house is similar, but we are empty nesters and down sized about 4 years ago, our needs would be a bit different to a growing family, we are currently in the throes of having two smaller rooms made into one area to further open up a previous renovation to give us a bigger open space..we also have an ensuite and a combined laundry / second laundry space. The good thing is that being a brick veneer house the reconfiguring is relatively easy with modern technology and big beams. As above try and have a big open space, we have been out of our home for a month now and still a way to go, add living away from home to your budget or stay with family. I will try and post the plan but here are a couple of journey pics ..the last photo was before trying to show how the two rooms decided the space making the living room very small and a bit dark...the aim of this project is to have space for a bigger gathering than about 4 people before overcrowded. Light is really important, nice big windows essential, the darkness of the living I thought I could live with, but it did get me down, I a, looking forward to having a much lighter space

I like the blue touches already in the room, which reflect the brickwork. Agree with lots of creams/ neutrals, just adding some blue in cushions, artwork. Maybe a bluish/cream rug, with a subtle pattern, not a solid color. Also I think the lights are a little lost. The high ceilings could take some quite large shades, maybe drums. And I agree that the central column could be painted to become the focal point as stated. Either white or quite a dark grey/ blue, ( it might darken up things too much, but it's only paint, can be changed). It might be sinful but I think I would replace it with plaster, then paint it. Finally maybe a dash of 60s burnt orange or mustard if you want to want to keep the retro theme.

@ minebathroom and @ Luke Buckle, our electrician has informed us that we don't have to put solar panels on our house roof if we don't want to for aesthetics or if for example the roof was old as you mentioned Luke. Panels can be placed on a shed or garage roof anywhere on your property if you are rural like us for example, as the power can be directed into the grid from anywhere the solar panels live and that doesn't have to be on the house roof. We would love to go solar but agree with all your other points @minebathroom, too expensive and expected lifespan and feed in tarrifs are very ordinary but then there's also the back up service too, will the company still be around in one year let alone 10 years. When our electrician got his solar, he got such a fantastic tarrif rate which was offered at the very start of the solar revolution, he was recieving a cheque or refund of something like $500 a quarter but the rates are so low now, there is certainly no chance of recouping some of the instalation costs, although I wouldn't be so fused about that if I thought I would get say 20+ years out of the system before it begun to possibly fail in some way. Things do have to get allot more reliable if nothing else!!

Thank you siriuskey :) The location is metro Adelaide so very hot summers and cool winters. Plans are for timber frame wall and roof construction, rendered hebel panels for all external walls and colourbond custom orb roofing. Party wall construction with 25mm gyprock shaft liner panels. Laminate timber flooring for living areas, carpet to bedrooms, tiles to wet areas, stone bench tops. Exposed aggregate concrete driveway & front footpath, grey concrete/paving to side path & pergola area. The market for these homes is predominantly downsizers, first home buyers and possibly single/separated parents with young children who do not want a large block of land. Basically nicely completed traditional/modern homes with above average finishes but not too high end.