@bloom collections. Frame stage just finished and I visited the site yesterday feeling disappointed with the amount of space we have in the living/kitchen. I hope shallower couch could make it work without having to compromise seating capacity as we do have families and friends coming over a lot. Is it possible though that i find it much bigger later on than what it is now...?

Is it normally allowed to make changes after frame stage? Ive asked my builder and they advised if i make a structural change it will delay the build as it will need to undergo Council approval. I did think of removing linen too after seeing the space. I couldn't believe how close the guest bathroom wall is if you are standing from the hallway stairs. Its almost like its right infront of you! Really not how i imagined it would be :(

I am in QLD. Would the linen cupboard beside stairs be considered structural change? I have also just realised how exposed the guest bedrooms are like no sense of privacy. Being how close they are from the living. I have been researching similar sized homes and they seem to look so much bigger than mine. Is it the way i've laid out my floor plan..?

I dont think there's a lot of waste in floor area the way i've set it up but for some reason other similar sized homes ive looked up online look much bigger.

I have built a few times, and the rooms look much bigger when finished. Looks tiny when you see only the slab, and a bit bigger once framed. Your living room is a good size given the overall size of the house. At 6x6.5 picture an empty double garage and this is what you will end up with.

6m by 6.5m is tiny if you need to fit dining and lounge in ..ours is roughly 8m long by 5.7m minus the staircase that runs on the side.

just fitted our dining sideways and room for a modular sofa.

it's going to be a squeeze. Is there anyway to instead of a kitchen island you can incoporate dining table /kitchen island ?

I would remove the linen wall and if possible push that bedroom wall back to be in line with garage or close to in line which might not be possible as can see a window and might render room too small

If it's structural they can put a beam in there to support it.

If it's not I don't see the problem why not?

Personally I'd stop the build until I am happy the problem is resolved.

You're only at framing easier to fix now then later.

this is our 5.7m width and near 8m living space ..

I've got roughly a metre between the wall and the dining chairs pulled out and similarly between the chairs and beginning of the sofa ..that's with the sofa right next to the bi folds.

If I push sofa closer in it is less room to walk through. In this photo they are pushed in . In reality they are right at the doors as we kept on bumping into stuff.

Here you see the chairs are not out..so gives impression of space..

Gallifrey it's a baby grand and it's cramped I've got about 30cm from back of sofa to where the piano is and the piano is 10cm the wall..so we have to squeeze through..

if we push the sofa in we are too close to watch TV ..that's our dilemma..

In my limited experience, the house felt huge at framing stage. Quite a LOT smaller once the gyprock went up on the walls and ceilings and then bigger once again after the walls and ceilings had been painted white.

In terms of your floor plans, I'd firstly question when Bed 4 is meant to function as a bedroom and, if so, why it doesn't have a standard hinged door and BIR. I also highly recommend including as much sound proofing as possible between the main bathroom and the living area (also between Beds 3/4 and the living area).

I'd be tempted to remove the niche / cupboard separating the living area from the entrance hallway and have a big, open entrance. If your TV is going on the wall between the living area and Beds 3/4, then you might squeeze in a long, narrow dining table "behind" the sofa which would be facing that wall.

I'm not sure where else you will put the TV. It could go on the niche nearest the external wall, but that will make accessing the alfresco through the sliding doors a little awkward since the sofa probably block the easy flow to / from the alfresco.

I guess you really just need to think about where you want to locate all of your furniture. Personally, I don't like bedrooms and bathrooms coming off living areas, so I'd be tempted to create a hallway for access to the bedrooms and main bathroom, but that would obviously eat into living area.

If you haven't already done so, ask the builder whether he's built that same floor plan elsewhere. If so, you could ask him to potentially arrange a walkthrough with the current owners. That might help to settle your concerns.

I've just measured from where sofa ends to wall is 2050mm plus another 800mm (6500mm) there is exactly 2850mm left minus 600mm walk way in between dining and sofa you've got 2250mm left for your dining table and chairs.

so let say table 1000mm plus chairs pulled out both sides 2000mm all up you've got 250mm left as walk way on the other side

it's tight..

Do you really need the double garage? It takes up a lot of space.

Can you move the door from bed 4 to the entrance hallway. I would prefer not to have the door off the main living for privacy sake and it would give you more wall space.

Sounds like we are just ahead of you. Our plastering is nearly finished and it suddenly seems bigger. I was worried, I'm not anymore :-) Hope this helps you.

Start looking at some clever-sized furniture. Heaps you can do with that space!

Thank you all for your ideas! Much appreciated! Now i have tonnes of things to think about ha ha. I am thinking of losing the cavity sliding doors in Bed 4 open it up as extension of living? But scared this might kill valuation reducing 1 "bedroom". If i go ahead with removing doors i can utilise this space as a TV room. Although we will be limited to a max 3.5m couch (which i do not mind really) all im concerned about is being too close to the 60inch TV!!? There is probably 3 options we can consider in arranging furnitures with the amount of space we currently have just a matter of which would give us more visual and physical space.. I will draw them out when i get a chance and share with you guys and i look forward to your opinions.

And @girlsguide our laundry is in the garage.

@asquithoatley we do have 2 cars.. If we had all that extra space in garage as living -- it would have been so great!

@Mel How much bigger was it? Did it feel like someone magically pushed the walls for an extra inch or two? ha ha Thanks for the comment

"But scared this might kill valuation reducing 1 "bedroom"."

A 4 bedroom house is typically worth more than a 3 bedroom house.

But a 4 bedroom house with only one living space, no separate wc, and the laundry in the garage, does not present as well.

I have seen well presented large 3 bedroom houses sell for similar prices to small 4 bedroom houses. (In my area anyway, I can't speak to yours.)

I'm not sure that qualifies as a four bedroom house anyway, the room with the sliding doors and no built-ins and opening directly onto the living room is what is sometimes called the MPR (multi-pupose room).

Hi Lah, firstly we are in an inner Sydney area, so your house is positively enormous by our standards!.

My kitchen/dining is 4.6 x 6. This will be my main entertaining space. We have a separate loungeroom upstairs that will be just for us. It's 4 x 4 roughly.

The plaster is light grey, whereas the framing was dark and made it look like a cave.

If you really don't need the 4th bedroom, I'd be leaving the cavity slider and making it a media room perhaps?. My boys are on the edge of their teen years, I know they won't want to be anywhere near us soon....I think open plan works well when your kids are young, but as they age they really want to be away!! I think opening that whole area up would make for a giant open-plan but odd shape. Keeping it gives the option for future buyers or you to determine what you do with it.