Hi BigReader here is the whole floor plan of the house. Its 2 bedrooms with a study or 3rd bedroom. Thanks for that. John

i notice the shower in the whole floor plan is in a different position than the first plan..is the bathroom already finished and/or is it possible to re-arrange the bathroom if a laundry could be squeezed in there? what are the walls around the proposed laundry alcove made out of? is it possible to extend the corner between the proposed laundry and kitchen?

initial suggestion is that a full size dining table (moveable and extending) would have less impact on the small living room, be more flexible for kitchen preparation, dinner for guests and other activities and leaves the previous "room for a small table" (with the bathroom door relocated) for a full size fridge and freestanding sideboard or dresser and by reducing the door into the laundry/pantry to 75cm there's enough wall space in the kitchen for a stove and rangehood. The laundry/pantry has wall to wall bench with 40cm wide drop in tub and under bench front loading washer, wall cabinets and open shelves (MW, appliances and pantry storage) on two walls with floor space for laundry basket & ironing board There's a re-arranged bathroom with or without an alternate laundry and suggest sliding glass doors with included flyscreens for the back verandah would also use much less space

Hi okLouise, that would be great to build out that corner but unfortunately it is a hi set house and yet to get Occupancy and the DA permit clearly now only allows foundations for this outline. The bathroom is not finished. I do like the centralised door though which was proposed by a well known architect I met recently. The new layout looks better and makes the bathroom seem bigger. I had thought to include laundry in there though.

should have recognised the highset with all those stairs!...what's downstairs? the centralised door for the bathroom (and the hinged back doors) look great but restrict wall use on all sides...the door in the middle bedroom could be moved for the same reason. The problem with taking out whole walls is that it leaves no wall space for a fridge and rangehood and the wide back window prevents them being placed along that wall ...with standard walk space you could have a 210cm x 75cm island with the stove and overhead rangehood but not enough knee space for comfortable seating (the small table in the plan is only 90cm square) and the only place for a good sized fridge is in the corner unless the laundry goes in the bathroom (or downstairs?) and then the fridge could be inside a pantry

BTW the inside room measurements of the spaces are not all the same as those shown on your plan have no allowance for the thickness of the outside walls eg the laundry is about 1360mm wide not 1500mm

Thanks MB Design. Relocating the living area wont work unfortunately because the back area of the house has a lower roof. For a living room it wouldnt look good. I will get away with it for the kitchen. Your idea about more space for the kitchen and less space for bath room is similar to another persons comments so I am considering that idea seriously. That might mean getting the laundry into the bathroom and shifting the bathroom door. It might mean the toilet is the first thing seen, but that is not too high a price for a better design. The toilet is already a new one fitted and its a good spot for it as the roof is lowest just there. John

Hi OkLouise, I am liking your idea (similar to another suggestion) about bigger kitchen area smaller bathroom. Your idea

-it fits a normal sized ding table (with less size reduction impact on living room)

-it fits a full sized fridge in

-it fits a full sized pantry in and just where you need it

-it seems to make the kitchen a spacious one.

Only thing is the bathroom shows the toilet first. Im reluctant to move it as its now newly finished into that spot and the ceiling is lowest there which is ok for a toilet but not for a shower. What about the door where the fridge is, then the fridge then the laundry opposit the toilet. Laundry could be accessed from either passage way or from bathroom ?

Hi OkLouise. So you dont think that a variation like this one attached would work? Are there any problems with this sort of variation to your idea ??

you've forced me to come up with the best plan yet but my suggestions haven't enlarged the kitchen just re-arranged what's already there however, there are variations in the measurement on your plans so it's best to measure on site to make certain everything fits (especially ventilation space around the fridge and washer) Moved into the centre of the wall the fridge is more visible from the living and blocks the view out the back door but, moving the laundry opposite the toilet but accessing from the kitchen side makes the bathroom work better and the laundry can be used while someone is in the bath and IF the big window is actually pushed to one side (and not centred in the back wall) there might be just enough space to squeeze in an electric stove (about 20cm from the corner) with a range hood and the fridge could be built in to the pantry with full height storage and with room for a small desk? in the leftover corner of the kitchen!!

Yes thanks okLouise that last plan is impressive. I liked your earlier one too. Yes I must measure the internal walls correctly. I think the kitchen seems bigger when floor space that was to be used for a walk way also becomes space to walk over to get to the fridge etc. down stairs council wants no built obstacles as water can over flow in that area. I would possibly like to put a minimalist external laundry area there later though.!! That window is a pest and indeed its off to one side. To use your last plan I could ensure there is enough space in the corner for the stove even if it meant getting a smaller window. A fair bit of renovation is yet to occur. I will measure things accurately and I'm thankful for your ideas and will try to use them. The last one if possible. Is it normal to put progress photos on Houzz?

yes please

last thought: now you have places for all the kitchen and laundry equipment it's possible to consider a narrow island with extra storage and tiny dining table or a big table and chairs with a tall storage cabinet in the leftover corner and, if necessary, there's also enough room to enclose the toilet to improve privacy from the kitchen and living area

Thank you Ok Louise I really appreciate your ideas. I still love the idea of the big table but we were worried about the amount of bench space and shelving so an island is still very tempting. We are thinking of a bench with stools at one end as on your last design. The loss of the big table may be out weighed by the practical effect.

trying to think of all the options: the island wouldn't be wide enough to include more than a couple of stools at one end and that would restrict the island's storage potential to cabinets or drawers totalling about 120cm x 60cm x counter height which can be easily matched by a tall cabinet in the "leftover corner" which can be up to 90cm wide, 60cm deep and about 2 m tall and a freestanding storage cabinet could look more interesting than built in for this spot (check out Ikea dining storage for ideas) and there's also about 150cm wide by 30cm deep x counter height possible opposite the new laundry and, if the pantry had a folding door opening towards only one side the fridge could just stand inside the pantry without any complex built in cabinetry. My antique CAD program has pretty basic "pictures" but here's an impression of the view towards the open bathroom and laundry doors and towards the pantry .. the awful colours are necessary to be able to see the detail

Thankyou so much okLouise youve really come up with great ideas. The overall ideas are so much better that I cant ignore these good ideas and will implement them. Just hoping the council wont be concerned about the internal layout in view of the DA plan they approved.

glad you like my ideas and please let us know results with council, good luck

Thanks for that comment. In earlier discussion I had a floor plan and worked on including a bath and shower and laundry and a 2 door fridge and a pantry all in a small space that I had available. I am really pleased with the result. The laundry ended up being european behind bi fold doors (I did use a small sink). The eating area ended up off an island bench. I will upload photos when these are ready.

Thank to everyone who contributed with ideas to my renovation project of my relocated house project. The project is finished now and the result is really nice. I have posted some photographs if anyone is interested in seeing how your design ideas helped out. John