Great project! And I love the Cape Cod style! Your entry space looks particularly busy with five options as soon as you walk in the door. I look forward to seeing what our friendly and expert Houzzers have to suggest...

Thanks Luke Buckle!

Hi Nicci James,
That's a good point actually. Here's a bit of background:
We have a 2yo and a second one on the way. I am a stay at home mum at the moment, however hubby occassionally works from home so that is something to consider.
We do like entertaining and require a downstairs bedroom for guests.

We weren't planning on using the area labelled as the sitting room as a sitting or lounge room. It's in rather awkward place and want to find another use for it.

Thinking of turning the laundry (I'm assuming this is where the old kitchen was) into a butler's pantry.

To be honest, we don't really know how to best utilise the sitting area and space left of the entry way.

I'd turn that laundry into the pantry to give your kitchen some breathing space for now.

Use your sitting room area as your laundry/storage etc

I'd remove those doors into the sitting room from laundry and put in a cavity slider.

As for the space to the left of the entry would make a great library? Sitting room ? Bookshelves chaise or arm chair? Or a window seat ? It can double as your guests' little retreat?

Totally agree with girlguides, live in it a while. You will get a sense of what you want and need, how the light plays out during the day. The living area seems large to begin with. Kids don't stay babies forever, then they like their own space. The study is a decent size too, it could potentially be a secondary living room, media room.

What is on the second floor?. Is this a slab on ground? Is the kitchen dining on a lower level, is this a built in verandah?

Depending on if this is a slab on ground or raised off ground so that plumbing can easily be done, i would take out the laundry, just leave fireplace, maybe make that two way fireplace, wood or gas, and have dining here, which would open up that funny sitting room to this dining space and provide kids play area with build in window seats and the like. Does anyone really use formal dining now? build in the gap from sitting to front room, maybe even stealing a bit of space for storage.

I would enclose that room next to entry to the study as most studies nowadays do not have to be massive spaces, unless clients are involved, that would make it quite place. With the storage space taken out for the dining play area, this would still be big enough for most.

I would remove the existing study wall or at least open it up if structural to have the butlers pantry one side laundry the other with a gallery kitchen in front. Making the remainder the living space.

Depending on budget i would raise the floor so that all this space is on one level. Depending on what the floor is or how many finishes you have i would make sure they are all the same. New timber floor, or new tiled floor, or carpet, what ever you like. If the terrace is then too low it might be able to be lifted simply to meet this new level.

I would remove the hall cupboards to give more space to the living area and provide a wall with door if you like into the lounge room and guest suite from entry and then make the bedroom bathroom hall more private so that anyone staying will have a master suite, entry off entry, while family could still use the facilities.

I think most people could cope with 3 entries off the entry, and the living door could be left open so that visually it can be seen as you enter the house, or if privacy is required, now that the hall cupboards are removed the entry to the living could be shifted down.

If the laundry and garage were a bit bigger i would suggest a double garage, but they are too small.

To keep the kitchen and dining in their current space would be one mistake after the other, unless you are overlooking some amazing views. Ros

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

We're actually looking to make as many big changes as possible prior to moving in. Our 2yo has allergies so we can't afford to have construction occurring while living there. For example, we will be sanding back and staining the floorboards downstairs pior to moving in, as well as potentially creating an archway in the wall to allow more free flowing space between the lounge room and what is currently the study.

We are able to extend the kitchen over onto the area that is the patio, but not the dining area because the land below slopes on that side. It's a shame because we have a lot of land.

I like the suggestion of a downstairs playroom which I was going to turn the front sitting room or bedroom into. It makes sense as we spend most of our time downstairs.

As correctly observed by marcros2, where the current dining and kitchen are located was done by older owners as an extension. It was so poorly done. Don't know what they were thinking (cost saving perhaps?) so it is a mess. However, we don't have the budget (nor the ability given child) to entirely relocate them both.

Instead we're planning to use the dining area as a little breakfast nook as opposed to using a formal dining area on a day to day basis. We do entertain so we do need a nicer dining area.

Thanks again everyone!

1. do you hope to build an extension for a new kitchen over the patio before the baby is born? 2. what is the floor made out of in the old laundry, kitchen and patio? 3 what are the outside walls made out of? 4. what are the inside walls made out of? 5 what is the chimney and fireplace made out of? 6. how many bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs? and photos of the inside of the kitchen, the laundry, the fireplace, the outside of the kitchen from the balcony and the patio will help

here's a new floorplan that improves the present layout without changing external walls and might be manageable within the time available

Hi Struthi I.

Given your parameters, I would be tempted to turn the current sitting room into a day bedroom for the children. I would probably put the door beside the fireplace (for ease of access from the main living areas), and wall up the doorway to the laundry (which would become a much more useful space for laundry and pantry) and the opening between the unused space in the front and the stairwell. In time, this room could become a play room, then a teenagers' den if required.

I'd also change the doors from the garage to a cavity slider.

The space in the front off the entry could then become the study (or a sitting/reading area, with a study upstairs where it would be quieter during the day until the children are off to school), and the current study become a dining room. I'd remove the wall separating it from the living room, and put cavity sliders between the new dining room and the existing one. The existing dining room could become a dedicated play area for the children while they're little, with a breakfast setting between the kitchen and play area. When the children are older and have the day bedroom as a play room, this area could become a lovely sitting area.

I'd wall up the door between the new dining room and hallway, and possibly reconfigure the storage space from the dining room into the guest bedroom. The niche where the door was could then become either another cupboard (broom cupboard?) in the hallway, or a good spot for a side board in the dining room.

Best of luck with it all. It's looks to be a lovely house, and will become a delightful home.

My first thoughts match what you say - the kitchen and dining rooms are far to far away from each other and the wall between the study and lounge should go. This will give you a huge open plan area and perhaps the lounge can move to the corner where the dining and office is now - hence not being stuck in the middle of the house.