Bravo to all these amazing creative minds. I hate wasting stuff that still has life in it. By the way, though I have read that some pallets are treated with a fumigant which is toxic. Generally, make sure pallets are stamped with “HT”, which means they haven’t been exposed to chemicals (at least not in the treating process.) Avoid unmarked pallets or those with “MB” for methyl bromide. Well, if anyone wants some really nice, bargain 2nd hand windows we just pulled out of our 12 y-o house to make way for a sliding door, and you live around Melbourne Australia, please check them out here: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/112070272414?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649

thanks, I do appreciate that & yes I'll think about doing that ;) I think it's important to understand that "help" in with this stuff involves critique to a certain extent. I'm all for helping people, that's kind of inherently what my job is all about, but in order to do that in the best way possible we need to be appropriately positioned to do it, and give it the time/attention it deserves and we're not going to tell you the answer for nothing. You can't easily sort this stuff out via a forum. You're building a house that's going to cost you hundreds of thousands so I beg to differ, you can afford to get the design right, perhaps not a full blown architect service, but I'd argue it's false economy cutting corners at the design stage. Investment in design is money well spent. What Retro and I are saying, and clearly you are seeing it too here because you're still struggling with it all, is that design is a 3 dimensional process. Form follows function and the facade will reflect the plan solution. When you get to this point and the facade's not working, then the plan's not working either. You need to be working with someone with the capacity to understand the consequences of the floor plan spatially. But in your case what I'd argue is that if this is a serious priority for you the designer needs to understand this aspect back while they're planning the layout, NOT tweaking it afterwards. Building design is a skill that is incredibly underestimated in it's complexity. Ultimately until we understand exactly what your comprehensive brief requirements are we are limited in capacity to either critique or suggest a better option. Hence my suggestion that you best engage a competent designer who delivers the contemporary style that appeals and is integrated rather than applied to the floor plan. honestly that's the best advice I can give you here - I'll be in touch :) PD

Ashjean I have had a play with your house and suggest the following very basic layout at this time to see if you like it I would have the garage on the Battleaxe drive way along with laundry, bathroom and study, this could be built on the boundary with the eaves on this side reduced if needed, Windows would be high light up under any eaves. I suggest that the bedrooms are on the western boundary which will be quieter and cooler with plantings, the hard surfaces of the driveways will store any day time heat that will be released over night Keeping the floorplan simple with removing the extra passage to separate the bedrooms and bathroom and using a simple roof without too many extra ridges will save you money. Can you please confirm the front width of your block and the length

now that we have the dimensions of the block you can see how much land is available and you will need to decide how to place the house on the block?? the best location would take advantage of passive solar design for which we need to know the direction of north and the local climate and how you want to use the gardens but something like this might work? and kitchens with living areas upstairs could make sense if the block was suitable eg land slope down from the street with views to the rear.... without more information about the block and who will live in the house no one will be able to answer all your questions but, if this is a flat block in an average new subdivision with new homes surrounding then it's usually better to build what most people would have with kitchen and living areas downstairs (you could also add a kitchenette to the upstairs living area for drinks and snacks) with most daytime living connection to outdoors especially if there will be children living in the house